Richness, origin and structure of an Eimeria community in a population of Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) introduced into Italy

0347451 - BC 2011 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Bertolino, S. - Hofmannová, L. - Girardello, M. - Modrý, David
Richness, origin and structure of an Eimeria community in a population of Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) introduced into Italy.
Parasitology. Roč. 137, č. 8 (2010), s. 1179-1186. ISSN 0031-1820. E-ISSN 1469-8161
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518
Keywords : coccidia * community ecology * co-occurrence * host-parasite relationships * introduced parasites * introduced host
Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine
Impact factor: 2.522, year: 2010

Nearly all cottontails were infected with at least I Eimeria species, with bimonthly prevalence ranging from 0-6-3% (E. leporis) to 42-9-89.3% (E. environ). Bavesian model averaging and multivariate techniques were used to investigate the relationships between the occurrence of each parasite and the structure of the relative community. Among the host parameters, only sex was found to be associated with the prevalence of E. honessi, while the rest of the parameters were only weakly correlated with prevalence and species richness. This indicates that individual phenotypic host characteristics are probably less important than environmental factors in determining levels of parasite prevalence and diversity. The community of Eimeria species was probably structured by competition, with less species co-occurrence than expected under a null hypothesis. This was made evident by the low co-occurrence of E. cm-iron and PS. neoirresidua with E. poudrei, E. honessi, and E. major.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0188224