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104 results for “parasite ecology”
Natural history and ecological effects on the establishment and fate of Florida carpenter ant cadavers infected by the parasitic-manipulator Ophiocordyceps camponoti-floridani
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Extending the ecology of fear: Parasite-mediated sexual selection drives host response to parasites
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Ecology of fear: Ontogeny-mediated non-consumptive effects in a parasite-host system
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Vegetation cover and biodiversity reduce parasite infection in wild hosts across ecological levels and scales
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Genotypic variation in an ecologically important parasite is associated with host species, lake, and spore size
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Ecology directs host-parasite coevolutionary trajectories across Daphnia-microparasite populations
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Ecological factors mediate immunity and parasitic co-infection in sea fan octocorals
<p>The interplay among environment, demography, and host-parasite interactions is a challenging frontier. In the ocean, fundamental changes are occurring due to anthropogenic pressures, including increased disease outbreaks on coral reefs. These outbreaks often include multiple parasites, calling into question how coral immunity functions in this complex milieu. Corals provide an interesting model to study ecological immunity during co-infection, being highly sensitive to environmental change, susceptible to many diseases, and defended by the innate immune system. Our work investigates the interplay of factors influencing coral co-infection using metrics of the innate immune response: levels of cellular immunity and the expression of candidate immune genes. We used existing copepod infections and live pathogen inoculation with <i>Aspergillus</i> fungus to test the effect of sequential co-infections in a laboratory experiment. We profile significant increases in the expression of the immune recognition gene Tachylectin 5A in response to both of these naturally occurring parasites of the Caribbean sea fan octocoral, <i>Gorgonia ventalina</i>. Cellular immunity increased significantly by 8.16% in copepod infections compared to controls and single <i>Aspergillus</i> infections. We evaluated immunity in reef populations and again detected activation of cellular immunity, with a 13.6% increase in copepod infections and no detectable increase in fungal infections. Thus, cellular immunity measured in the field and lab were similar, increasing with copepod infections and not <i>Aspergillus</i>. We found random co-occurrence of copepods and fungus across 15 reefs in Puerto Rico, suggesting other factors prevail in structuring parasite infection. Sea fan colony size strongly predicted infection by the copepod parasite. Moreover, the effect of parasitic infection on immunity was small relative to the explanatory power of site differences and coral cover, and roughly equivalent to the effect of reproductive status. We suggest that host size, reproductive status, live coral cover, and site-specific factors have large effects on parasitic infections and host immunity that overwhelm effects of the parasites on each other. Thus, host size and site-specific features emerge as critical drivers in this multi-parasite system. Parsing the effects of immunity and ecological factors in coral co-infection shows how disease depends on more than one host and one parasite.</p>
Data from: Competing for blood: the ecology of parasite resource competition in human malaria-helminth co-infections
Ecological theory suggests that co-infecting parasite species can interact within hosts directly, via host immunity and/or via resource competition. In mice, competition for red blood cells (RBCs) between malaria and bloodsucking helminths can regulate malaria population dynamics, but the importance of RBC competition in human hosts was unknown. We analyzed infection density (i.e. the concentration of parasites in infected hosts), from a 2-year deworming study of over 4,000 human subjects. After accounting for resource-use differences among parasites, we find evidence of resource competition, priority effects, and a competitive hierarchy within co-infected individuals. For example, reducing competition via deworming increased Plasmodium vivax densities 2.8-fold, and this effect is limited to bloodsucking hookworms. Our ecological, resource-based perspective sheds new light into decades of conflicting outcomes of malaria-helminth co-infection studies with significant health and transmission consequences. Beyond blood, investigating within-human resource competition may bring new insights for improving human health.
Latitudinal influence on gametogenesis and host-parasite ecology in a marine bivalve model
<p>Reproduction and parasites have significant impacts on marine animal populations globally. This study aimed to investigate the associative effects of host reproduction and a host-parasite interplay on a marine bivalve, along a geographic gradient of latitude. Cockles <i>Cerastoderma edule</i> were sampled from five European sites (54°N to 40°N), between April 2018 and October 2019. A histological survey provided data on trematode (metacercaria and sporocyst life stages), prevalence and cockle stage of gametogenesis to assess the influence of a latitudinal gradient on both interplays. Sex ratios at the northernmost sites were skewed towards females and spawning size was reduced at the lower latitudes. Trematode infection did not follow a latitudinal gradient. Localised site-related drivers, namely: seawater temperature varied spatially, having an impact on cockle-trematode interactions. Spawning was related to elevated temperatures at all sites. Prolonged spawning occurred at southern latitudes, where seawater temperatures were warmer. Trematode prevalence and the impact of trematodes on gametogenesis were found to be spatially variable, but not latitudinally. Therefore it is not possible to determine the likelihood of boom and bust events in cockles, based on the latitudinal location of a population. In terms of sublethal impacts, it appeared that energy was allocated to reproduction rather than somatic growth in southern populations, with less energy allocated to reproduction in the larger, northern cockles. The demonstrated spatial trend of energy allocation indicates the potential of a temporal trend of reduced cockle growth at northern sites, as a result of warming sea temperatures. This awareness of the spatially varying drivers of populations is crucial considering the potential for these drivers/inhibitors to be exacerbated in a changing marine environment.</p>
Figure 1 in Diversity and ecology of parasitic fauna of the endemic Serrasalmus brandtii Lütken, 1875 from the Caatinga Domain, Brazil
Figure 1. Richness of parasitic infracommunities in Serrasalmus brandtii Lütken, 1875 captured in the Lima Campos dam, municipality of Icó, Ceará state, Brazil.
Data from: Experimental parasite community ecology: intraspecific variation in a large tapeworm affects community assembly
Non-random species associations occur in naturally-sampled parasite communities. The processes resulting in predictable community structure (e.g. particular host behaviours, cross-immunity, interspecific competition) could be affected by traits that vary within a parasite species, like growth or antigenicity. We experimentally infected three-spined sticklebacks with a large tapeworm (Schistocephalus solidus) that impacts the energy needs, foraging behaviour, and immune reactions of its host. The tapeworms came from two populations, characterized by high or low growth in sticklebacks. Our goal was to evaluate how this parasite, and variation in its growth, affects the acquisition of other parasites. Fish infected with S. solidus were placed into cages in a lake to expose them to the natural parasite community. We also performed a lab experiment in which infected fish were exposed to a fixed dose of a common trematode parasite. In the field experiment, infection with S. solidus affected the abundance of four parasite species, relative to controls. For two of the four species, changes occurred only in fish harbouring the high-growth S. solidus; one species increased in abundance and the other decreased. These changes did not appear to be directly linked to S. solidus growth though. The parasite exhibiting elevated abundance was the same trematode used in the lab infection. In that experiment, we found a similar infection pattern, suggesting that S. solidus affects the physiological susceptibility of fish to this trematode. Associations between S. solidus and other parasites occur and vary in direction. However, some of these associations were contingent on the S. solidus population, suggesting that intraspecific variability can affect the assembly of parasite communities.
Figure 6 in Parasite fauna of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus L. 1758, and its relationship with some ecological factors in Lower Kızılırmak Delta located by the Black Sea, Turkey
Figure 6. Dendrogram resulting from Bray–Curtis cluster analysis based on similarities of species composition. Abbreviations: autumn (A), summer (Su), spring (Sp), winter (W), Cernek (C), Tatlı-Gıcı (T), Ulu-Uzun (U), Liman (L) and Karaboğaz (K); e.g. C-W stands for Cernek– Winter.
Figure 4 in Parasite fauna of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus L. 1758, and its relationship with some ecological factors in Lower Kızılırmak Delta located by the Black Sea, Turkey
Figure 4. Percentage of grey mullets (%) with respect to the number of parasite species detected by season.
Figure 2 in Parasite fauna of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus L. 1758, and its relationship with some ecological factors in Lower Kızılırmak Delta located by the Black Sea, Turkey
Figure 2. Percentage of grey mullets (%) with respect to the number of parasite species detected throughout the investigation period.
Figure 5 in Parasite fauna of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus L. 1758, and its relationship with some ecological factors in Lower Kızılırmak Delta located by the Black Sea, Turkey
Figure 5. Biplot diagram of redundancy analysis (RDA) presenting the relationship between environmental variables and parasite communities in the samples. Abbreviations: autumn (A), summer (Su), spring (Sp), winter (W), Cernek (C), Tatlı-Gıcı (T), Ulu-Uzun (U), Liman (L), Karaboğaz (K); e.g. C-W stands for Cernek–Winter, Nitrate (NO −), Salinity (S) and Dissolved 3 Oxygen (DO).
Figure 3 in Parasite fauna of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus L. 1758, and its relationship with some ecological factors in Lower Kızılırmak Delta located by the Black Sea, Turkey
Figure 3. Percentage of grey mullets (%) with respect to the number of parasite species detected from different lakes/lagoons.
Data for: Sexual dimorphism in ichneumonine parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ichneumoninae) and the neglected influence of the ecological niche
<p>Sexual dimorphism is a ubiquitous phenomenon, but its ecological role and evolutionary significance are still poorly understood in many hyperdiverse lineages. We used geometric morphometrics to characterize and quantify sexual dimorphism in the head and mesosoma of 24 species in the wasp subfamily Ichneumoninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Our results show that sexual dimorphism varies substantially among species but is generally more pronounced on the head, with males occupying a noticeably smaller region of the morphospace than females. Phenotypic trajectory analyses showed a trend towards conserved trajectories in the difference between males and females, indicating that dimorphism seems to manifest as predictable shape changes across species. Species parasitizing pupae, particularly in concealed substrates, were found to have higher sexual dimorphism for the head than species parasitizing more exposed hosts such as larvae. For the mesosoma, this difference was not significant, with the degree of sexual dimorphism more influenced by phylogenetic history. We hypothesize that female head shape has adapted to the demands related to finding hosts in concealed habitats, whereas species that attack exposed or weakly concealed hosts have kept a generalized head shape in both sexes. These results highlight the importance of investigating intersex ecological differences as drivers of sexual dimorphism.</p>
Figure 9 in Metazoan parasites in Colomesus asellus (Pisces: Tetraodontidae) from Amazon River, in Brazil: an ecological, annual and seasonal study
Figure 9. Species accumulation curve for metazoan parasites in Colomesus asellus from the Amazon River, in the eastern Amazon region, Brazil, during the rainy and dry seasons.
Figure 5 in Metazoan parasites in Colomesus asellus (Pisces: Tetraodontidae) from Amazon River, in Brazil: an ecological, annual and seasonal study
Figure 5. Species accumulation curve for metazoan parasites in Colomesus asellus from the Amazon River, in the state of Amapá, Brazil, collected in 2020 and 2021.
Figure 8 in Metazoan parasites in Colomesus asellus (Pisces: Tetraodontidae) from Amazon River, in Brazil: an ecological, annual and seasonal study
Figure 8. Diversity parameters of metazoan parasites in Colomesus asellus from the Amazon River, in the eastern Amazon region, Brazil, during the rainy and dry seasons (box plots represent medians, interquartile ranges, minimum–maximum ranges and outliers). Different letters indicate differences between the medians according to Dunn̍ s test (p <0.001).
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.