The helminth community of the wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus from the Erro River valley, Navarre, Spain

Ecological Analysis of the Helminth Community of the Wood Mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, along an 18-Year Post-Fire Regeneration Period in a Mediterranean Ecosystem

Simple Summary

After a wildfire, especially in Mediterranean ecosystems, the vegetation starts to recover gradually but appears regenerated after a decade. However, the study of helminth parasites of the wood mouse, the most important post-fire recolonizer mammal in the western Mediterranean forests, allowed us to elucidate the reality of this process more accurately, mainly due to the, sometimes complex, life cycles of the helminths using other hosts (vertebrates and invertebrates) to complete them. Thus, the comparative analysis of various aspects (biodiversity and kinds of life cycles) of the helminth community of the wood mouse, as well as the influence of some external factors (related to the environment and its periodical post-fire regeneration) and internal factors (related to the population of the wood mouse), between the burned area and a non-burned area used as control, reveals the biological indicators (indicators of the situation/evolution of a process) of the post-fire regeneration process and its true state. The current study confirms the important role of the helminths of the wood mouse as biological indicators and the influence that climate variables exercise on the quality and evolution of the post-fire regeneration process in Mediterranean ecosystems.

Abstract

The role of helminths of the wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, as biological indicators of the post-fire regeneration process in Serra Calderona Natural Park, a Mediterranean forest ecosystem located between the provinces of València and Castelló (Valencian Country, Spain), has been analysed for almost twenty years. The helminth ecological analysis of 917 A. sylvaticus (675 originating from the burned area and 242 originating from the control area) has been carried out between the 2nd and 18th post-fire years. The influence of intrinsic (host population density, sex and age) and extrinsic (site, period and year of capture, climate variables) factors on the post-fire evolution of the helminth community of the wood mouse, and the biodiversity, species richness and life cycle of the helminth species was studied. Taking into account the most important results obtained, various aspects of the helminth community dynamics of the wood mouse are confirmed as biological indicators of the post-fire regeneration process in Mediterranean ecosystems. The still existing differences between the two areas are mainly related to the influence of climate variables on the post-fire regeneration process. Moreover, the important role that helminth parasites of the wood mouse play as biological indicators of this process in Mediterranean ecosystems is demonstrated.

Mammals in the MZNA Vertebrate Collection of University of Navarra, Spain

In this paper five datasets are described that provide information about records of mammals in the Vertebrate Collection of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Navarra (MZNA-VERT). The datasets contain 3,466 records belonging to 20 species of mammals sampled across the transition zone between the Atlantic and Mediterranean biogeographical regions (north Iberian Peninsula). The datasets include both distributional data (georeferenced records) and basic biometric data of most of the vouchered specimens stored in the museum facilities. The samples originated mainly within research projects and PhD theses carried out in the former department of Zoology and Ecology of the University of Navarra between 1982 and 2011. The Darwin Core Archive Format datasets are accessible through GBIF.

First report on the helminthfauna of the yellow-necked mouse, Apodemus flavicollis, in the Iberian Peninsula

Information about the prevalence of helminth parasites of the yellow-necked mouse, Apodemus flavicollis, in the Iberian Peninsula is almost non-existent and there is no reliable data reported from Spain. Fourteen A. flavicollis from the Erro River valley (Navarre, Spain) were examined for endoparasites, between February 2001 and July 2002. Thirteen specimens (92.9 %) of the total sample were parasitized by at least one of the following six helminth species: one trematode (Corrigia vitta), one cestode (Taenia parva larvae) and four nematodes (Trichuris muris, Calodium hepaticum, Heligmosomoides polygyrus and Syphacia stroma). This is the first report about the helminthfauna of A. flavicollis in the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, a larger number of hosts should be analysed to complete these preliminary results and to adequately characterize the helminth community of this rodent. The finding of C. hepaticum, the causative agent of human capillarosis, stands out.