Order in ectoparasite communities of marine fish is explained by epidemiological processes

Title
Order in ectoparasite communities of marine fish is explained by epidemiological processes
Publication Date
2002
Author(s)
Morand, S
Rohde, Klaus
Hayward, C
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1017/S0031182002001464
UNE publication id
une:11077
Abstract
Two kinds of community structure referred to, nestedness and bimodal distribution, have been observed or were searched for in parasite communities. We investigate here the relation between these two kinds of organisation, using marine fishes as a model, in order to show that parasite population dynamics may parsimoniously explain the patterns of ectoparasite species distribution and abundance. Thirty six assemblages of metazoan ectoparasites on the gills and heads of marine fish showed the following patterns: a positive relationship between abundance and the variance of abundance; a positive relationship between abundance and prevalence of infection; a bimodal pattern of the frequency distribution of prevalence of infection; nestedness as indicated by Atmar and Patterson's thermodynamic measure (a mean of 7.9°C); a unimodal distribution of prevalence in parasite assemblages with a temperature lower than the mean, and a bimodal distribution in assemblages with a temperature higher than the mean. We conclude that patterns are the result of characteristics of the parasite species themselves and that interspecific competition is not necessary to explain them. We emphasize that a holistic approach, taking all evidence jointly into account, is necessary to explain patterns of community structure. Ectoparasite assemblages of marine fish are among the animal groups that have been most thoroughly examined using many different methods, and all evidence supports the view that these animals live under non-equilibrium conditions, in largely non-saturated niche space in which interspecific competition occurs but is of little evolutionary importance.
Link
Citation
Parasitology, 124(7), p. S57-S63
ISSN
1469-8161
0031-1820
Start page
S57
End page
S63

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