scholarly journals Functional immunogenetic variation, rather than local adaptation, predicts ectoparasite infection intensity in a model fish species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Phillips ◽  
Joanne Cable ◽  
Ryan Mohammed ◽  
Sebastian Chmielewski ◽  
Karolina Przesmycka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Population Differences ◽  
Evolutionary Potential ◽  
Susceptibility To Infection ◽  
Mhc Supertypes

Natural host populations differ in their susceptibility to infection by parasites, and these intra-population differences are still an incompletely understood component of host-parasite dynamics. In this study, we used controlled infection experiments with wild-caught guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and their ectoparasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli to investigate the roles of local adaptation and host genetic composition (immunogenetic and neutral) in explaining differences in susceptibility to infection. We found differences between our four study host populations that were consistent between two parasite source populations, with no indication of local adaptation by either host or parasite at two tested spatial scales. Greater host population genetic variability metrics broadly aligned with lower population mean infection intensity, with the best alignments associated with Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) ‘supertypes’. Controlling for intra-population differences and potential inbreeding variance, we found a significant negative relationship between individual-level functional MHC variability and infection: fish carrying more MHC supertypes experienced infections of lower severity, with limited evidence for supertype-specific effects. We conclude that population-level differences in host infection susceptibility likely reflect variation in parasite selective pressure and/or host evolutionary potential, underpinned by functional immunogenetic variation.

scholarly journals Pentastomids infecting an invader lizard, Hemidactylus mabouia (Gekkonidae) in northeastern Brazil

2008 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
LA. Anjos ◽  
WO. Almeida ◽  
A. Vasconcellos ◽  
EMX. Freire ◽  
CFD. Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Habits ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
First Record ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Parasitism Rate ◽  
Intensity Of Infection ◽  
New Host ◽  
Single Host ◽  
Hemidactylus Mabouia

From January to April 2006, 37 specimens of Hemidactylus mabouia were collected in houses, in the municipality of Barbalha (7° 20' S and 39° 18' W), Ceará State, Northeast Brazil. Among the individuals captured, 17 were infected with pentastomids, totalling a prevalence of 45.9%, which did not differ between sexes. Host size did not influence the infection intensity. Two species of pentastomids were found: Raillietiella frenatus and R. mottae. The prevalence of R. frenatus (43.2%) was higher than R. mottae (2.7%), whereas the infection intensity of R. frenatus was comparatively lower (1.8 ± 1.4) than R. mottae (36 parasites in a single host). Overall mean intensity of infection was 3.8 ± 8.4 pentastomids. We found no pentastomid infecting juvenile geckos. The parameters of infection in this host population are in accordance to the findings of other studies, in which the high parasitism rate was associated to the feeding habits of geckos living in houses and buildings. Hemidactylus mabouia is a new host to R. mottae and the infection by R. frenatus is the first record of the occurrence this pentastomid species in Brazil.

scholarly journals Aggregation of Argulus coregoni (Crustacea: Branchiura) on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): a consequence of host susceptibility or exposure?

Parasitology ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. BANDILLA ◽  
T. HAKALAHTI ◽  
P. J. HUDSON ◽  
E. T. VALTONEN
Keyword(s):  
Rainbow Trout ◽  
Oncorhynchus Mykiss ◽  
Acquired Resistance ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Similar Rate ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Host Susceptibility ◽  
Relative Significance ◽  
Argulus Coregoni

By sampling individual rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, at a fish farm we showed that Argulus coregoni were aggregated within their host population. The relative significance of susceptibility and exposure generating the observed pattern was tested using experimental infections. We examined, whether rainbow trout developed protective resistance mechanisms against the louse following a challenge infection and if there was variation between individual trout in their susceptibility to A. coregoni metanauplii. Fish were exposed to 20 A. coregoni for 5, 25, 50, 85 or 120 min and the numbers attaching recorded. Three weeks later, developing argulids were removed and the experiment repeated with a standardized exposure of 20 metanauplii. Prior exposure of fish with A. coregoni did not reduce the total infection intensity compared to naïve fish, but fish gained infection more rapidly. We suggest that there is no protective acquired resistance of pre-exposed rainbow trout to subsequent Argulus exposure. The possibility that an immunosuppressive mechanism by argulids was acting enabling the higher attachment rate could be refuted since control individuals, not previously exposed to lice, gained the infection at a similar rate as the fish challenged twice. Our results do not indicate clear differences in susceptibility among individual fish but the transmission of metanauplii on fish seemed to be opportunistic and non-selective. Our results support the view that variation in exposure time, rather than differences in susceptibility of individual hosts, might be the key factor in generating the aggregated distribution of Argulus on their hosts.

scholarly journals Jack-of-all-trades paradigm meets long-term data: generalist herbivores are more widespread and locally less abundant

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Sudta ◽  
D.M. Salcido ◽  
M.L. Forister ◽  
T. Walla ◽  
S. Villamarín-Cortez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Ecological Specialization ◽  
Dietary Specialization ◽  
Mixed Support ◽  
Term Data

AbstractSome of the most common ecological interactions are between plants and herbivorous insects, and these relationships are central to the study of ecological specialization. We address established assumptions about the positive association between local abundance and dietary specialization using a 17-year dataset on the caterpillars of Ecuador. Our long-term data include standardized plot-based samples as well as general, regional collections, allowing for investigations across spatial scales and using different indices of abundance for 1917 morphospecies of Lepidoptera from 33 families. We find that specialists are locally more abundant than generalists, consistent with a key component of the “jack of all trades, master of none” hypothesis, which has otherwise received poor to mixed support from previous studies that have mostly involved fewer species and shorter time series. Generalists achieve greater prevalence across the landscape, and we find some evidence for geographic variation in the abundance-diet breadth relationship, in particular among elevational bands. Interspecific variation in abundance also had a negative relationship with diet breadth, with specialists having more variable abundances across species. The fact that more specialized species can be both rare and common highlights the ecological complexity of specialization.

scholarly journals Intraspecific genomic variation and local adaptation in a young hybrid species

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angélica Cuevas ◽  
Mark Ravinet ◽  
Glenn-Peter Sætre ◽  
Fabrice Eroukhmanoff
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Climatic Variation ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Population Divergence ◽  
Parent Species ◽  
Evolutionary Potential ◽  
Variable Environment ◽  
Hybrid Species ◽  
Species Population

ABSTRACTHybridization increases genetic variation, hence hybrid species may have a strong evolutionary potential once their admixed genomes have stabilized and incompatibilities have been purged. Yet, little is known about how such hybrid lineages evolve at the genomic level following their formation, in particular the characteristics of their adaptive potential, i.e. constraints and facilitations of diversification. Here we investigate how the Italian sparrow (Passer italiae), a homoploid hybrid species, has evolved and locally adapted to its variable environment. Using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) on several populations across the Italian peninsula, we evaluate how genomic constraints and novel genetic variation have influenced population divergence and adaptation. We show that population divergence within this hybrid species has evolved in response to climatic variation. As in non-hybrid species, climatic differences may even reduce gene flow between populations, suggesting ongoing local adaptation. We report outlier genes associated with adaptation to climatic variation, known to be involved in beak morphology in other species. Most of the strongly divergent loci among Italian sparrow populations seem not to be differentiated between its parent species, the house and Spanish sparrow. Within the parental species, population divergence has occurred mostly in loci where different alleles segregate in the parent species, unlike in the hybrid, suggesting that novel combinations of parental alleles in the hybrid have not necessarily enhanced its evolutionary potential. Rather, our study suggests that constraints linked to incompatibilities may have restricted the evolution of this admixed genome, both during and after hybrid species formation.

scholarly journals Evolutionary origins for ecological patterns in space

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (30) ◽  
pp. 17482-17490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Urban ◽  
Sharon Y. Strauss ◽  
Fanie Pelletier ◽  
Eric P. Palkovacs ◽  
Mathew A. Leibold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Patch Selection ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Ecological Patterns

Historically, many biologists assumed that evolution and ecology acted independently because evolution occurred over distances too great to influence most ecological patterns. Today, evidence indicates that evolution can operate over a range of spatial scales, including fine spatial scales. Thus, evolutionary divergence across space might frequently interact with the mechanisms that also determine spatial ecological patterns. Here, we synthesize insights from 500 eco-evolutionary studies and develop a predictive framework that seeks to understand whether and when evolution amplifies, dampens, or creates ecological patterns. We demonstrate that local adaptation can alter everything from spatial variation in population abundances to ecosystem properties. We uncover 14 mechanisms that can mediate the outcome of evolution on spatial ecological patterns. Sometimes, evolution amplifies environmental variation, especially when selection enhances resource uptake or patch selection. The local evolution of foundation or keystone species can create ecological patterns where none existed originally. However, most often, we find that evolution dampens existing environmental gradients, because local adaptation evens out fitness across environments and thus counteracts the variation in associated ecological patterns. Consequently, evolution generally smooths out the underlying heterogeneity in nature, making the world appear less ragged than it would be in the absence of evolution. We end by highlighting the future research needed to inform a fully integrated and predictive biology that accounts for eco-evolutionary interactions in both space and time.

Potential interactions between metazoan parasites of the Mayan catfish Ariopsis assimilis and chemical pollution in Chetumal Bay, Mexico

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.M. Vidal-Martínez ◽  
M.L. Aguirre-Macedo ◽  
E. Noreña-Barroso ◽  
G. Gold-Bouchot ◽  
P.I. Caballero-Pinzón
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Infected Fish ◽  
Chemical Pollution ◽  
Fish Length ◽  
Sampling Station ◽  
Metazoan Parasites ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Potential Interactions

AbstractThe effect of pollutants on the intensity of infection of metazoan parasites in the Mayan catfish, Ariopsis assimilis was investigated. Data were collected on pollutants and metazoan parasites from 76 catfish from five localities in Chetumal Bay in October, 1996. Nineteen pollutants (pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)) were found in the catfish livers. Heavy metal content was not determined. Nineteen metazoan parasite species were recovered. After controlling for fish length and sampling station, there was a significant negative linear relationship between the intensity of the larval digenean Mesostephanus appendiculatoides and 1,1,1,-trichloro-2,2-bis (4-chlorophenyl) ethane (DDT) concentrations. This negative relationship may be explained either by the effect of the pesticide on the mortality of (i) free-living larval forms, (ii) metacercariae in the fish, (iii) infected fish or (iv) intermediate host snails. There were significant differences between fish parasitized and not parasitized with M. appendiculatoides with respect to their DDT concentrations. There were also significant differences between the variances of the mean Clark's coefficient of condition values between catfish parasitized and not parasitized by M. appendiculatoides, with the variance of non-parasitized catfish being significantly larger. The results provided statistical evidence that DDT has a detrimental effect on M. appendiculatoides infection intensity. Furthermore, the significantly larger variance value of Clark's coefficient for non-parasitized fish suggested that DDT affects both the parasite and general host condition.

scholarly journals Immunogenetic novelty confers a selective advantage in host–pathogen coevolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (7) ◽  
pp. 1552-1557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl P. Phillips ◽  
Joanne Cable ◽  
Ryan S. Mohammed ◽  
Magdalena Herdegen-Radwan ◽  
Jarosław Raubic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Adaptive Immune Response ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Gene Families ◽  
Selective Advantage ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Host Pathogen ◽  
Polymorphic Gene ◽  
Or Gene

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is crucial to the adaptive immune response of vertebrates and is among the most polymorphic gene families known. Its high diversity is usually attributed to selection imposed by fast-evolving pathogens. Pathogens are thought to evolve to escape recognition by common immune alleles, and, hence, novel MHC alleles, introduced through mutation, recombination, or gene flow, are predicted to give hosts superior resistance. Although this theoretical prediction underpins host–pathogen “Red Queen” coevolution, it has not been demonstrated in the context of natural MHC diversity. Here, we experimentally tested whether novel MHC variants (both alleles and functional “supertypes”) increased resistance of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to a common ectoparasite (Gyrodactylus turnbulli). We used exposure-controlled infection trials with wild-sourced parasites, and Gyrodactylus-naïve host fish that were F2 descendants of crossed wild populations. Hosts carrying MHC variants (alleles or supertypes) that were new to a given parasite population experienced a 35–37% reduction in infection intensity, but the number of MHC variants carried by an individual, analogous to heterozygosity in single-locus systems, was not a significant predictor. Our results provide direct evidence of novel MHC variant advantage, confirming a fundamental mechanism underpinning the exceptional polymorphism of this gene family and highlighting the role of immunogenetic novelty in host–pathogen coevolution.

Persistence in the fine-scale distribution and spatial aggregation of fishing

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 1072-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels T Hintzen ◽  
Geert Aarts ◽  
Adriaan D Rijnsdorp
Keyword(s):  
High Stability ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Fishing Effort ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Effort Allocation ◽  
The Stability ◽  
First Time

Abstract High-resolution vessel monitoring (VMS) data have led to detailed estimates of the distribution of fishing in both time and space. While several studies have documented large-scale changes in fishing distribution, fine-scale patterns are still poorly documented, despite VMS data allowing for such analyses. We apply a methodology that can explain and predict effort allocation at fine spatial scales; a scale relevant to assess impact on the benthic ecosystem. This study uses VMS data to quantify the stability of fishing grounds (i.e. aggregated fishing effort) at a microscale (tens of meters). The model links effort registered at a large scale (ICES rectangle; 1° longitude × 0.5° latitude, ˜3600 km2) to fine spatial trawling intensities at a local scale (i.e. scale matching gear width, here 24 m). For the first time in the literature, the method estimates the part of an ICES rectangle that is unfavourable or inaccessible for fisheries, which is shown to be highly stable over time and suggests higher proportions of inaccessible grounds for either extremely muddy or courser substrates. The study furthermore shows high stability in aggregation of fishing, where aggregation shows a positive relationship with depth heterogeneity and a negative relationship with year-on-year variability in fishing intensity.

Epidemiology of nematode infections of Soay sheep (Ovis aries L.) on St Kilda

Parasitology ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. D. Gulland ◽  
M. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Ovis Aries ◽  
Sheep Population ◽  
Soay Sheep ◽  
Infective Larvae ◽  
Population Crash ◽  
Faecal Egg Counts ◽  
Bad Weather

SUMMARYThe epidemiology of nematode infections of Soay sheep on the island of St Kilda over a period of 2 years (August 1988–August 1990) spanning a host population crash is described. Infective larvae (L3) levels on pasture were high (2422±365 L3/kg D.M. grass in midsummer 1988) when host population density was high, decreasing after the sheep population declined by 70% in early 1989 (601 ±14 L3/kg D.M. in midsummer 1989). The availability of infective larvae to sheep increased during the winter of 1988–1989, probably as a result of concentration of existing larvae on grass as vegetation was destroyed by bad weather and overgrazing. Increased availability of pre-parasitic stages was accompanied by a marked increased in faecal egg counts from sheep of all ages and both sexes. Prevalence and intensity of infection (faecal egg counts) were higher in males than females throughout the 2-year study (χ2 = 208.3, P < 0.005 and F1.2000 = 304, P < 0.001 respectively), except during the lambing periods, and decreased with age in both sexes. Changes in prevalence and intensity of strongyle infections were associated with changes in host population density. Prevalence and intensity of Dictyocaulus filaria larvae in faeces increased during the host population crash. Infection intensity decreased with age (F1.203 = 44.02, P < 0.001) and was higher in males than females (F1.203 = 13.45, P < 0.001).

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