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Interactions between Micro- and Macroparasites Predict Microparasite Species Richness across Primates

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Title Interactions between Micro- and Macroparasites Predict Microparasite Species Richness across Primates
Names Nunn, Charles L. (creator)
Brezine, Carrie (creator)
Jolles, Anna E. (creator)
Ezenwa, Vanessa O. (creator)
Date Issued 2014-02-14 (iso8601)
Note This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the University of Chicago Press for the American Society of Naturalists and can be found at: http://www.jstor.org/page/journal/amernatu/earticles.html.
Abstract Most wild animals face concurrent challenges by multiple
infectious organisms, and immunological responses triggered by
some parasites may increase susceptibility to other infectious agents.
Immune-mediated interactions among parasites have been investigated
among individuals in a population, but less is known about
broader comparative patterns. We investigated the “macro-micro facilitation
hypothesis” that higher helminth prevalence in a host species
provides greater opportunities for intracellular parasites to invade,
resulting in higher richness of intracellular microparasites. We
obtained data on average helminth prevalence for 70 primate hosts,
along with data on richness of intra- and extracellular infectious
organisms. Using Bayesian phylogenetic methods, we found that primate
species with higher overall helminth prevalence harbored more
species of intracellular microparasites, while the positive association
between helminth prevalence and extracellular microparasite species
richness was weaker. The relationships held after controlling for potentially
confounding variables, but associations were not found in
focused tests of prevalence for six genera of well-studied helminths.
The magnitude of support and effect sizes for overall helminth prevalence
on intracellular microparasite species richness was similar to
support for other well recognized ecological and life-history drivers
of parasite species richness. Our findings therefore suggest that intrahost
parasite interactions are as important as some ecological characteristics
of hosts in accounting for parasite richness across host
species.
Genre Article
Topic parasitism
Identifier Nunn, C. L., Brezine, C., Jolles, A. E., & Ezenwa, V. O. (2014). Interactions between Micro- and Macroparasites Predict Microparasite Species Richness across Primates. The American Naturalist, 183(4), 494-505. doi:10.1086/675362

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