Parasite diversity and ecology in a model species, the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) in Trinidad

Mohammed, Ryan S., King, Stanley D., Bentzen, Paul, Marcogliese, David, van Oosterhout, Cock ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5653-738X and Lighten, Jackie (2020) Parasite diversity and ecology in a model species, the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) in Trinidad. Royal Society Open Science, 7 (1). ISSN 2054-5703

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Abstract

The guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a model species in ecology and evolution. Many studies have examined effects of predators on guppy behaviour, reproduction, survival strategies, feeding and other life-history traits, but few have studied variation in their parasite diversity. We surveyed parasites of 18 Trinidadian populations of guppy, to provide insight on the geographical mosaic of parasite variability, which may act as a source of natural selection acting on guppies. We found 21 parasite species, including five new records for Trinidad. Spatial variation in parasite diversity was significantly higher than that of piscine predators, and significant variation in parasite richness among individuals and populations was correlated with: (i) host size, (ii) snail species richness, and (iii) the distance between populations. Differences in parasite species richness are likely to play an important, yet underestimated role in the biology of this model species of vertebrate ecology and evolution.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: community,guppy,parasite,tobago,trinidad,life-history evolution,size,guppy,mhc,community,parasite,fish,trinidad and tobago,infection,selection,male color,general ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 29 Feb 2020 08:37
Last Modified: 13 Aug 2024 00:28
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74358
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191112

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