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Mammalian metabolism, longevity and parasite species richness.

ABSTRACT: Basal metabolic rate (BMR) scales allometrically with body mass in mammals, but the reasons why some species have higher or lower metabolic rates than predicted from their body mass remain unclear. We tested the idea that parasite species richness may be a contributory factor by performing a comparative analysis on 23 species of mammals for which data were available on parasite species richness, BMR, body mass and two potentially confounding variables, i.e. host density and host longevity. Parasite species richness was positively correlated with BMR and negatively correlated with host longevity independent of body mass.

SUBMITTER: Morand S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1690765 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mammalian metabolism, longevity and parasite species richness.

Morand S S Harvey P H PH

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20001001 1456

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) scales allometrically with body mass in mammals, but the reasons why some species have higher or lower metabolic rates than predicted from their body mass remain unclear. We tested the idea that parasite species richness may be a contributory factor by performing a comparative analysis on 23 species of mammals for which data were available on parasite species richness, BMR, body mass and two potentially confounding variables, i.e. host density and host longevity. Paras ...[more]

PMID: 11075713

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Project description:Parasites can play an important role in biological invasions. While introduced species often lose parasites from their native range, they can also accumulate novel parasites in their new range. The accumulation of parasites by introduced species likely varies spatially, and more parasites may shift to new hosts where parasite diversity is high. Considering that parasitism and disease are generally more prevalent at lower latitudes, the accumulation of parasites by introduced hosts may be greater in tropical regions. The Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) has become widely distributed across the Western Atlantic. In this study, we compared parasitism across thirteen locations in four regions, spanning seventeen degrees of latitude in the lionfish's introduced range to examine potential spatial variation in parasitism. In addition, as an initial step to explore how indirect effects of parasitism might influence interactions between lionfish and ecologically similar native hosts, we also compared parasitism in lionfish and two co-occurring native fish species, the graysby grouper, Cephalopholis cruentata, and the lizardfish, Synodus intermedius, in the southernmost region, Panama. Our results show that accumulation of native parasites on lionfish varies across broad spatial scales, and that colonization by ectoparasites was highest in Panama, relative to the other study sites. Endoparasite richness and abundance, on the other hand, were highest in Belize where lionfish were infected by twice as many endoparasite species as lionfish in other regions. The prevalence of all but two parasite species infecting lionfish was below 25%, and we did not detect an association between parasite abundance and host condition, suggesting a limited direct effect of parasites on lionfish, even where parasitism was highest. Further, parasite species richness and abundance were significantly higher in both native fishes compared to lionfish, and parasite abundance was negatively associated with the condition index of the native grouper but not that of the lionfish or lizardfish. While two co-occurring native fishes were more heavily parasitized compared to lionfish in Panama any indirect benefits of differential parasitism requires further investigation. Future parasitological surveys of lionfish across the eastern coast of North America and the Lesser Antilles would further resolve geographic patterns of parasitism in invasive lionfish.

Dataset Information

Mammalian metabolism, longevity and parasite species richness.

Publications

Mammalian metabolism, longevity and parasite species richness.

Similar Datasets

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