Dataset Information

A community approach to the Neotropical ticks-hosts interactions.

ABSTRACT: The relationships between ticks and hosts are relevant to capture the ecological background driving the evolution of these parasites. We used a set of 4,764 records of ticks of the genera Amblyomma, Ixodes, and Haemaphysalis and their hosts in the Neotropics to approach the tick-host relationships using a network-based construct. The network identified 9 clusters of interacting hosts and ticks partially connected by 22 tick species that switch their host range according to their life cycle stage. These links among clusters do not confer an extra resilience to the network following removal of hosts and subsequent cascade extinctions of ticks: the robustness of the network slightly changed when these inter-clusters links are considered. Phylogenetic clustering of ticks to hosts at cluster level was not significant (p?>?0.15) but if examined individually 63 tick species/stages (59%) displayed such clustering, suggesting that their hosts have a related phylogenetic background. We interpreted these results under an ecological perspective in which ticks could track its environmental niche associating to vertebrates that would maximize tick survival under the range of abiotic traits. We encourage these integrated analyses to capture the patterns of circulation of tick-transmitted pathogens, a topic still unaddressed in the Neotropical region.

SUBMITTER: Estrada-Pena A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7283479 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A community approach to the Neotropical ticks-hosts interactions.

Estrada-Peña Agustín A Nava Santiago S Tarragona Evelina E de la Fuente José J Guglielmone Alberto A AA

Scientific reports 20200609 1

The relationships between ticks and hosts are relevant to capture the ecological background driving the evolution of these parasites. We used a set of 4,764 records of ticks of the genera Amblyomma, Ixodes, and Haemaphysalis and their hosts in the Neotropics to approach the tick-host relationships using a network-based construct. The network identified 9 clusters of interacting hosts and ticks partially connected by 22 tick species that switch their host range according to their life cycle stage ...[more]

PMID: 32518281

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Project description:1. Contaminants such as mercury are pervasive and can have immunosuppressive effects on wildlife. Impaired immunity could be important for forecasting pathogen spillover, as many land-use changes that generate mercury contamination also bring wildlife into close contact with humans and domestic animals. However, the interactions among contaminants, immunity and infection are difficult to study in natural systems, and empirical tests of possible directional relationships remain rare. 2. We capitalized on extreme mercury variation in a diverse bat community in Belize to test association among contaminants, immunity and infection. By comparing a previous dataset of bats sampled in 2014 with new data from 2017, representing a period of rapid agricultural land conversion, we first confirmed bat species more reliant on aquatic prey had higher fur mercury. Bats in the agricultural habitat also had higher mercury in recent years. We then tested covariation between mercury and cellular immunity and determined if such relationships mediated associations between mercury and bacterial pathogens. As bat ecology can dictate exposure to mercury and pathogens, we also assessed species-specific patterns in mercury-infection relationships. 3. Across the bat community, individuals with higher mercury had fewer neutrophils but not lymphocytes, suggesting stronger associations with innate immunity. However, the odds of infection for haemoplasmas and Bartonella spp. were generally lowest in bats with high mercury, and relationships between mercury and immunity did not mediate infection patterns. Mercury also showed species- and clade-specific relationships with infection, being associated with especially low odds for haemoplasmas in Pteronotus mesoamericanus and Dermanura phaeotis. For Bartonella spp., mercury was associated with particularly low odds of infection in the genus Pteronotus but high odds in the subfamily Stenodermatinae. 4. Synthesis and application. Lower general infection risk in bats with high mercury despite weaker innate defense suggests contaminant-driven loss of pathogen habitat (i.e. anemia) or vector mortality as possible causes. Greater attention to these potential pathways could help disentangle relationships among contaminants, immunity and infection in anthropogenic habitats and help forecast disease risks. Our results also suggest that contaminants may increase infection risk in some taxa but not others, emphasizing the importance of considering surveillance and management at different phylogenetic scales.

Project description:BACKGROUND:The phyllosphere is an important microbial habitat, but our understanding of how plant hosts drive the composition of their associated leaf microbial communities and whether taxonomic associations between plants and phyllosphere microbes represent adaptive matching remains limited. In this study, we quantify bacterial functional diversity in the phyllosphere of 17 tree species in a diverse neotropical forest using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. We ask how hosts drive the functional composition of phyllosphere communities and their turnover across tree species, using host functional traits and phylogeny. RESULTS:Neotropical tree phyllosphere communities are dominated by functions related to the metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, and energy acquisition, along with environmental signalling pathways involved in membrane transport. While most functional variation was observed within communities, there is non-random assembly of microbial functions across host species possessing different leaf traits. Metabolic functions related to biosynthesis and degradation of secondary compounds, along with signal transduction and cell-cell adhesion, were particularly important in driving the match between microbial functions and host traits. These microbial functions were also evolutionarily conserved across the host phylogeny. CONCLUSIONS:Functional profiling based on metagenomic shotgun sequencing offers evidence for the presence of a core functional microbiota across phyllosphere communities of neotropical trees. While functional turnover across phyllosphere communities is relatively small, the association between microbial functions and leaf trait gradients among host species supports a significant role for plant hosts as selective filters on phyllosphere community assembly. This interpretation is supported by the presence of phylogenetic signal for the microbial traits driving inter-community variation across the host phylogeny. Taken together, our results suggest that there is adaptive matching between phyllosphere microbes and their plant hosts. Video abstract.

Dataset Information

A community approach to the Neotropical ticks-hosts interactions.

Publications

A community approach to the Neotropical ticks-hosts interactions.

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