Dataset Information

Close relationship of Plasmodium sequences detected from South American pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) to Plasmodium spp. in North American white-tailed deer.

ABSTRACT: We report, for the first time, the presence of ungulate malaria parasites in South America. We conducted PCR-based surveys of blood samples of multiple deer species and water buffalo from Brazil and detected Plasmodium sequences from pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) samples. Phylogenic analysis revealed that the obtained sequences are closely related to the Plasmodium odocoilei clade 2 sequence from North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Nucleotide differences suggest that malaria parasites in South American pampas deer and North American P. odocoilei clade 2 branched more recently than the Great American Interchange.

SUBMITTER: Asada M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5963126 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Close relationship of Plasmodium sequences detected from South American pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) to Plasmodium spp. in North American white-tailed deer.

Asada Masahito M Takeda Mika M Tomas Walfrido Moraes WM Pellegrin Aiesca A de Oliveira Cairo Henrique Sousa CHS Barbosa José Diomedes JD da Silveira Júlia Angélica Gonçalves JAG Braga Érika M ÉM Kaneko Osamu O

International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife 20180106 1

We report, for the first time, the presence of ungulate malaria parasites in South America. We conducted PCR-based surveys of blood samples of multiple deer species and water buffalo from Brazil and detected Plasmodium sequences from pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) samples. Phylogenic analysis revealed that the obtained sequences are closely related to the Plasmodium odocoilei clade 2 sequence from North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Nucleo ...[more]

PMID: 29845014

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Project description:The impacts of introduced or overabundant large herbivores are a concern for the conservation of forest plant communities and the sustainability of ecosystem function. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are considered ecologically overabundant in much of North America. Previous work suggests that impacts of deer overabundance are broadly negative and are consequently degrading forests at multiple ecological and taxonomic levels. However, no quantitative synthesis currently exists to verify the generality or magnitude of these impacts. Here, we report the results of a meta-analysis quantifying the effects of deer exclusion on the diversity, cover and abundance of woody, herbaceous and whole community components of forest understories in North America. In addition, we explore the relationships of environmental and experimental factors on the direction and magnitude of plant community outcomes using meta-regression. Using 119 calculated effect sizes sourced from 25 peer-reviewed articles, we constructed 10 community-specific data sets and found strongly positive diversity, cover and abundance responses of the woody community to deer exclusion, but no significant effects for the herbaceous or whole community components of forest understories. Local deer density and time since exclusion were significant moderators of both whole community and woody community richness. Local deer density also moderated the effects of deer exclusion on whole community cover. Plot area, in contrast, showed no relationship to any of the community response outcomes. We suggest that the use of inadequate diversity indices, non-native species replacement or legacy effects of chronic deer overabundance might explain why the herbaceous and whole community components of forest understories showed no diversity or cover responses to deer exclusion. We also suggest some strategies to increase opportunities for future quantitative syntheses of deer impacts on forests, including providing better access to existing and future data. Ultimately, we show that white-tailed deer have strongly negative impacts on forest understorey plant communities in North America, but these impacts are not ubiquitous for all components of the plant community.

Project description:Predator species can indirectly affect prey species through the cost of anti-predator behavior responses, which may involve shifts in occupancy, space use, or movement. Quantifying the various strategies implemented by prey species to avoid adverse interactions with predators can lead to a better understanding of potential population-level repercussions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine predator-prey interactions by quantifying the effect of predator species presence on detection rates of prey species, using coyotes (Canis latrans) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Central Appalachian forests of the eastern United States as a model predator-prey system. To test two competing hypotheses related to interspecific interactions, we modeled species detections from 319 camera traps with a two-species occupancy model that incorporated a continuous-time detection process. We found that white-tailed deer occupancy was independent of coyote occupancy, but white-tailed deer were more frequently detectable and had greater detection intensity at sites where coyotes were present, regardless of vegetation-related covariates. In addition, white-tailed deer detection rates at sites with coyotes were highest when presumed forage availability was relatively low. These findings suggest that white-tailed deer may be exhibiting an active avoidance behavioral response to predators by increasing movement rates when coyotes are present in an area, perhaps due to reactive evasive maneuvers and/or proactive attempts to reduce adverse encounters with them. Concurrently, coyotes could be occupying sites with higher white-tailed deer densities. Because white-tailed deer did not exhibit significant shifts in daily activity patterns based on coyote occupancy, we further suggest that white-tailed deer in our study system generally do not use temporal partitioning as their primary strategy for avoiding encounters with coyotes. Overall, our study implements a recently developed analytical approach for modeling multi-species occupancy from camera traps and provides novel ecological insight into the complex relationships between predator and prey species.

Dataset Information

Close relationship of Plasmodium sequences detected from South American pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) to Plasmodium spp. in North American white-tailed deer.

Publications

Close relationship of <i>Plasmodium</i> sequences detected from South American pampas deer (<i>Ozotoceros bezoarticus</i>) to <i>Plasmodium</i> spp. in North American white-tailed deer.

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