TY - JOUR
T1 - Male hosts drive infracommunity structure of ectoparasites
AU - Krasnov, Boris R.
AU - Stanko, Michal
AU - Matthee, Sonja
AU - Laudisoit, Anne
AU - Leirs, Herwig
AU - Khokhlova, Irina S.
AU - Korallo-Vinarskaya, Natalia P.
AU - Vinarski, Maxim V.
AU - Morand, Serge
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank Lajos Rozsa and an anonymous referee for most helpful comments on the earlier version of the manuscript. In South Africa, the protocol of the study was approved and permits were issued by the Ethical Committee of the University of Stellenbosch and by the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board. This study was funded by (a) the National Research Foundation and University of Stellenbosch for South Africa; (b) Belgian Funds for Research in Industry and Agroalimentary (FRIA) and for ScientiWc Research (FNRS)—Flanders, the University of Antwerp and the Sokoine University of Agriculture for Tanzania; and (c) the Slovak Research and Development Agency (grant SK-FR-0007-09) and the French-Slovak PHC STEFANIK “Ecology of mammal ectoparasites” for Slovakia. This is publication no. 724 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology.
PY - 2011/1/1
Y1 - 2011/1/1
N2 - We studied the co-occurrence of flea species in infracommunities of 16 rodents from four regions (South Africa, Tanzania, central Europe and western Siberia) using null models, and predicted that flea co-occurrences will be expressed more strongly in male than in female hosts. We examined patterns of co-occurrence (measured as the C score) in infracommunities of fleas that are parasitic on male and female hosts by comparing co-occurrence frequencies with those expected by chance. When a significant degree of nonrandomness in flea co-occurrences was detected, it indicated aggregative infracommunity structure. In Tanzanian rodents, no significant flea co-occurrences were detected in either male or female hosts. In a South African rodent, significant flea co-occurrences were not detected in males, but were found in females in some localities. In Palaearctic rodents, significant nonrandomness was detected either equally for males and females or more frequently in males than in females. Meta-analyses demonstrated that the frequency of the detection of nonrandomness in flea co-occurrences was significantly higher in male than in female hosts. The values of the standardized effect size (SES) for the C score differed significantly among host species, but not between host genders. When the Palaearctic hosts were analyzed separately, the effects of both host gender and species appeared to be significant, with the SES values for the C score in males being smaller than those in females. The strength of the gender difference in the manifestation of flea community structure increased with increasing gender difference in flea species richness, and with decreasing gender difference in flea prevalence for the Palaearctic hosts. We conclude that male hosts are the main drivers of flea infracommunity structure. However, the manifestation of gender bias in flea community structure varies among host species, and is likely determined by the pattern of species-specific spatial behavior.
AB - We studied the co-occurrence of flea species in infracommunities of 16 rodents from four regions (South Africa, Tanzania, central Europe and western Siberia) using null models, and predicted that flea co-occurrences will be expressed more strongly in male than in female hosts. We examined patterns of co-occurrence (measured as the C score) in infracommunities of fleas that are parasitic on male and female hosts by comparing co-occurrence frequencies with those expected by chance. When a significant degree of nonrandomness in flea co-occurrences was detected, it indicated aggregative infracommunity structure. In Tanzanian rodents, no significant flea co-occurrences were detected in either male or female hosts. In a South African rodent, significant flea co-occurrences were not detected in males, but were found in females in some localities. In Palaearctic rodents, significant nonrandomness was detected either equally for males and females or more frequently in males than in females. Meta-analyses demonstrated that the frequency of the detection of nonrandomness in flea co-occurrences was significantly higher in male than in female hosts. The values of the standardized effect size (SES) for the C score differed significantly among host species, but not between host genders. When the Palaearctic hosts were analyzed separately, the effects of both host gender and species appeared to be significant, with the SES values for the C score in males being smaller than those in females. The strength of the gender difference in the manifestation of flea community structure increased with increasing gender difference in flea species richness, and with decreasing gender difference in flea prevalence for the Palaearctic hosts. We conclude that male hosts are the main drivers of flea infracommunity structure. However, the manifestation of gender bias in flea community structure varies among host species, and is likely determined by the pattern of species-specific spatial behavior.
KW - Fleas
KW - Gender difference
KW - Infracommunity structure
KW - Rodents
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79960314256
U2 - 10.1007/s00442-011-1950-z
DO - 10.1007/s00442-011-1950-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79960314256
SN - 0029-8549
VL - 166
SP - 1099
EP - 1110
JO - Oecologia
JF - Oecologia
IS - 4
ER -
