Co-invaders: The effects of alien parasites on native hosts.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lymbery AJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4145144 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Ongoing globalisation and climate change are causing plant species to invade new habitats and thereby alter biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Since numbers of plant invasions continue to increase globally, it is crucial to investigate the effects of multiple co-occurring alien species on native communities. Furthermore, priority effects due to the earlier emergence of certain species affecting fitness of later arriving species can shape community structure and affect native species performance. We investigate in a common garden pot experiment the interactions among five alien-native species pairs. First we focus on the effect of growing with either one or two alien neighbour species on a native plant, second we alter the arrival time of the alien or native neighbour by 3 weeks. Generally, native species performance decreased when surrounded by two alien species compared to only one, although the magnitude of this effect varied depending on species, with one species even performing better with alien neighbours than in monoculture. Species performance greatly decreased when arriving second in the pot, for both native and alien species. In contrast, alien species tended to benefit more from arriving early. Given that we studied annual ruderal species, their potentially lower competitive ability might explain why we detected negative effects of late arrival. We highlight the need to further elucidate underlying mechanisms of small-scale invasion dynamics to achieve generalisations concerning the response of multiple alien and native plants given their species-specific differences in response to neighbour species and arrival time.
| S-EPMC8445876 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMultiple host introductions to the same non-native environment have the potential to complete life cycles of parasites incidentally transported with them. Our goal was to identify a recently detected parasitic flatworm in the invasive Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis) on the remote Pacific island of Guam. We considered possible factors influencing parasite transmission, and tested for correlations between infection status and potential indicators of host fitness. We used genetic data from the parasite and information about the native ranges of other possible non-native hosts to hypothesize how it arrived on Guam and how its life cycle may be currently supported.MethodsWe identified the parasite by comparing larval morphology and mtDNA sequences with other Pseudophyllid tapeworms. We assessed probability of infection in individual snakes using logistic regression and examined different factors influencing presence of parasites in hosts.ResultsWe identified the parasite as the pseudophyllid cestode Spirometra erinaceieuropaei, with all sampled worms from multiple snakes sharing a single mtDNA haplotype. Infection appears to be limited to the only freshwater watershed on the island, where infection prevalence was high (77.5%). Larger snakes had a higher probability of being infected, consistent with the chronic nature of such infections. While infection status was positively correlated with body condition, infected snakes tended to have lower intra-peritoneal fat body mass, potentially indicating a negative effect on energy stores.ConclusionsWe discovered that B. irregularis inhabiting a small area of forested habitat in a freshwater watershed on Guam are often infected by a novel parasite of Asian origin. While further work is needed, this species of Spirometra, itself a non-native species, likely depends on a suite of recently introduced hosts from different parts of the world to complete the life cycle. This baseline study provides little evidence of any effects on host fitness, but additional data are needed to more thoroughly explore the consequences of infection in this invasive snake population.
| S-EPMC4689450 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:The invasive alien species may lead to great environmental and economic crisis due to its strong capability of occupying the biological niche of native species and altering the ecosystem of the invaded area. However, its potential to serve as the vectors of some specific zoonotic pathogens, especially parasites, has been neglected. Thus, the damage that it may cause has been hugely underestimated in this aspect, which is actually an important public health problem. This paper aims to discuss the current status of zoonotic parasites carried by invasive alien species in China. MAIN BODY:This review summarizes the reported zoonotic parasites carried by invasive alien species in China based on the Database of Invasive Alien Species in China. We summarize their prevalence, threat to human health, related reported cases, and the roles of invasive alien species in the life cycle of these parasites, and the invasion history of some invasive alien species. Furthermore, we sum up the current state of prevention and control of invasive alien species in China, and discuss about the urgency and several feasible strategies for the prevention and control of these zoonoses under the background of booming international communications and inevitable globalization. CONCLUSIONS:Information of the zoonotic parasites carried by invasive alien species neither in China or worldwide, especially related case reports, is limited due to a long-time neglection and lack of monitoring. The underestimation of their damage requires more attention to the monitoring and control and compulsory measures should be taken to control the invasive alien species carrying zoonotic parasites.
| S-EPMC6325848 | biostudies-other
Project description:Freshwater habitats are under increasing threat due to invasions of exotic fish. These invasions typically begin with the introduction of small numbers of individuals unfamiliar with the new habitat. One way in which the invaders might overcome this disadvantage is by associating with native taxa occupying a similar ecological niche. Here we used guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from a feral population in Mexico to test the prediction that exotic shoaling fish can associate with heterospecifics, and that they improve their foraging efficiency by doing so. Guppies have invaded the Mexican High Plateau and are implicated in the declines of many native topminnow (Goodeinae) species. We show that heterospecific associations between guppies and topminnows can deliver the same foraging benefits as conspecific shoals, and that variation in foraging gains is linked to differences in association tendency. These results uncover a mechanism enabling founding individuals to survive during the most vulnerable phase of an invasion and help explain why guppies have established viable populations in many parts of Mexico as well in every continent except Antarctica.
| S-EPMC4448845 | biostudies-other
Project description:Host and parasite evolution are closely intertwined, with selection for adaptations and counter-adaptations forming a coevolutionary feedback loop. Coevolutionary dynamics are often difficult to intuit due to these feedbacks and are hard to demonstrate empirically in most systems. Theoretical models have therefore played a crucial role in shaping our understanding of host-parasite coevolution. Theoretical models vary widely in their assumptions, approaches and aims, and such variety makes it difficult, especially for non-theoreticians and those new to the field, to: (1) understand how model approaches relate to one another; (2) identify key modelling assumptions; (3) determine how model assumptions relate to biological systems; and (4) reconcile the results of different models with contrasting assumptions. In this review, we identify important model features, highlight key results and predictions and describe how these pertain to model assumptions. We carry out a literature survey of theoretical studies published since the 1950s (n = 219 papers) to support our analysis. We identify two particularly important features of models that tend to have a significant qualitative impact on the outcome of host-parasite coevolution: population dynamics and the genetic basis of infection. We also highlight the importance of other modelling features, such as stochasticity and whether time proceeds continuously or in discrete steps, that have received less attention but can drastically alter coevolutionary dynamics. We finish by summarizing recent developments in the field, specifically the trend towards greater model complexity, and discuss likely future directions for research.
| S-EPMC9305583 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A survey of the helminth parasites of alien freshwater fishes from Argentinean Patagonia is presented, based on samples taken from 2010 to 2017 and including previous published records. A total of 1129 fishes were collected, belonging to 11 species from 7 families. We surveyed 34 localities in 12 river basins, and found 43 parasite taxa (15 digeneans, 14 monogeneans, 5 cestodes, 5 nematodes, and 4 acanthocephalans), belonging to 22 families. Data are presented as a parasite/host list with information on host species and localities, site of infection, parasite life-history stage, origin, previous records in Patagonia, and accession numbers to vouchers. The most frequently found helminths were monogeneans and digeneans. Our data suggest that invading fish in Patagonia have transmitted fewer parasite species than they have received by spillback. Twenty-three (53%) of the parasites seem to be acquired by the exotic fishes from native hosts, while 15 helminths were co-introduced along with their exotic fish host and continue to parasitize these alien fish but did not invade native hosts; 4 of these species were introduced with carp, 3 with Cheirodon interruptus, 3 with Corydoras paleatus, 3 with Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, 1 with Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, and 1 with Jenynsia multidentata. The majority of these co-introduced parasites came from the Brazilic ichthyogeographic region (10 species). This is the first review of helminth parasites of alien fishes in Argentina; in total 12 new records of parasites for Argentina, 6 new records of parasites for Patagonia, and 29 new host-parasite records are presented here. This list is far from complete, however, given that some basins in southern Patagonia remain unexplored in terms of parasite detection.
| S-EPMC6174270 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The impact of alien predators on native prey populations is often attributed to prey naiveté towards a novel threat. Yet evolutionary theory predicts that alien predators cannot remain eternally novel; prey species must either become extinct or learn and adapt to the new threat. As local enemies lose their naiveté and coexistence becomes possible, an introduced species must eventually become 'native'. But when exactly does an alien become a native species? The dingo (Canis lupus dingo) was introduced to Australia about 4000 years ago, yet its native status remains disputed. To determine whether a vulnerable native mammal (Perameles nasuta) recognizes the close relative of the dingo, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), we surveyed local residents to determine levels of bandicoot visitation to yards with and without resident dogs. Bandicoots in this area regularly emerge from bushland to forage in residential yards at night, leaving behind tell-tale deep, conical diggings in lawns and garden beds. These diggings were less likely to appear at all, and appeared less frequently and in smaller quantities in yards with dogs than in yards with either resident cats (Felis catus) or no pets. Most dogs were kept indoors at night, meaning that bandicoots were not simply chased out of the yards or killed before they could leave diggings, but rather they recognized the threat posed by dogs and avoided those yards. Native Australian mammals have had thousands of years experience with wild dingoes, which are very closely related to domestic dogs. Our study suggests that these bandicoots may no longer be naïve towards dogs. We argue that the logical criterion for determining native status of a long-term alien species must be once its native enemies are no longer naïve.
| S-EPMC3280208 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many invading species have brought devastating parasites and diseases to their new homes, thereby imperiling native taxa. Potentially, though, invaders might have the opposite effect. If they take up parasites that otherwise would infect native taxa, but those parasites fail to develop in the invader, the introduced species might reduce parasite burdens of the native fauna. Similarly, earlier exposure to the other taxon's parasites might 'prime' an anuran's immune system such that it is then able to reject subsequent infection by its own parasite species. Field surveys suggest that lungworm counts in native Australian frogs decrease after the arrival of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina), and laboratory studies confirm that native lungworm larvae enter, but do not survive in, the toads. In laboratory trials, we confirmed that the presence of anurans (either frogs or toads) in an experimental arena reduced uptake rates of lungworm larvae by anurans that were later added to the same arena. However, experimental exposure to lungworms from native frogs did not enhance a toad's ability to reject subsequent infection by its own lungworm species.
| S-EPMC4501531 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundForest habitats are important biodiversity refuges for a wide variety of bird species. Parasitism may modulate host species presence and abundance, and parasite effects can change according to forest management practices. Such processes are not well studied in vector-borne avian haemosporidians. We analyzed the effects of forest management on bird-dipteran-haemosporidian interactions, using seven common bird species in managed and unmanaged beech forest habitats in northeastern Germany. We assumed that forest structural heterogeneity affects parasite population parameters in avian hosts (i.e., prevalence and parasitemia), through its effect on the condition of the avian host but also through varying vector abundances.ResultsParasite prevalence was high (about 80%) and homogeneous across different beech forest categories (i.e., young, old, unmanaged) and for all bird species, except Erithacus rubecula (35%). Parasitemia varied across bird species but not across forest categories within each avian species (lowest parasitemia were found in E. rubecula, Turdus merula, and Turdus philomelos). In our study system, we found that vector abundance was not the main driver of parasite dynamics. We found that forest structure affects parasite infection probability directly and potentially host condition via available resources that have to be used either to combat infections (i.e., high parasitemia) or to maintain a good body condition.ConclusionsThe effects of each of the predictors were bird species-specific, and we found that Diptera vectors were not the foremost influence in our host-vector-parasite system. Effects of forest habitat variables indicated that for most bird species in this study, habitat regulation of infection probability was more likely (i.e., E. rubecula, Fringilla coelebs, Sylvia atricapilla), whereas for Parus major habitat characteristics impacted first individuals' body condition and subsequently the probability of infection. Our findings emphasize the need of species-specific analyses and to use continuous forest structural parameters (e.g., the proportion of gap, south facing aspect) to better understand habitat and land use effects on host-vector-parasite dynamics.
| S-EPMC7437053 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Alien impact on native diversity could be a function of both the relatedness of alien species to native community and resources availability. Here, we investigated whether alien plants expand or decrease the functional and phylogenetic space of native plant communities, and how this is affected by alien relatedness to natives and by resources availability. We used a trait-environment dataset of 33 alien and 130 native plants in 83 pairs of invaded and non-invaded plots, covering a gradient of soil resources (organic matter-nitrogen) in Saint-Katherine-Protectorate, Egypt. First, we compared the changes in native composition and calculated alien relatedness to natives within each pair of plots. Second, we tested the effects of resources availability and relatedness on the magnitude of alien impact (defined as a change in native diversity). We found that native composition was phylogenetically less but functionally more diverse in invaded plots compared to non-invaded ones. Moreover, in resources-rich plots, dissimilar aliens to natives significantly increased native diversity, while in resource-limited ones, similar aliens to natives declined native diversity. These results suggest that the assessment of alien impacts in arid-regions is significantly linked to resources-availability and relatedness to natives. Hence, future studies should test the generality of our findings in different environments.
| S-EPMC8245551 | biostudies-literature