Verónica Taglioretti, María Alejandra Rossin, Eugenia Levy, Juan Tomás Timi
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Parasites can provide suitable models for studying β-diversity due to their strict dependence on both the environment and the biology and distribution of their hosts, aiding in the interpretation of any patterns that hosts can display. With the aim of quantifying the relative importance of host features, environmental factors and spatial distances as drivers of fish parasite β-diversity along a unidirectional gradient, the structure of fish parasite assemblages was analysed using generalised dissimilarity models (GDMs). A total of 150 poeciliid fish were examined for larval trematodes, recording host features and physical parameters of each sampling site along the stream. Differences among digenean communities increased when Strahler order changed along the stream, associated with increasing species richness and abundance downstream. Environmental gradient, spatial distance and host features were identified as significant determining factors of species turnover, with conductivity being the most important, followed by spatial distance. In the present study, environmental variables were spatially structured along the stream, their effects as structurers of parasite β-diversity being higher than the pure environmental or the pure distance effect. Such predominance prevents us from establishing at what point on the continuum from niche to neutrality these communities are located. Results from the present research contribute to improving our knowledge of the factors that shape parasite community changes, and underline the importance of considering the pure and shared effects of spatial, environmental and host feature factors in order to determine the real contribution of each one as a determinant of parasite β- diversity.
期刊介绍:
International Journal for Parasitology offers authors the option to sponsor nonsubscriber access to their articles on Elsevier electronic publishing platforms. For more information please view our Sponsored Articles page. The International Journal for Parasitology publishes the results of original research in all aspects of basic and applied parasitology, including all the fields covered by its Specialist Editors, and ranging from parasites and host-parasite relationships of intrinsic biological interest to those of social and economic importance in human and veterinary medicine and agriculture.