Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
Ecol Lett. 2019 Jun;22(6):987-998. doi: 10.1111/ele.13263. Epub 2019 Mar 25.
Variation in susceptibility is ubiquitous in multi-host, multi-parasite assemblages, and can have profound implications for ecology and evolution in these systems. The extent to which susceptibility to parasites is phylogenetically conserved among hosts can be revealed by analysing diverse regional communities. We screened for haemosporidian parasites in 3983 birds representing 40 families and 523 species, spanning ~ 4500 m elevation in the tropical Andes. To quantify the influence of host phylogeny on infection status, we applied Bayesian phylogenetic multilevel models that included a suite of environmental, spatial, temporal, life history and ecological predictors. We found evidence of deeply conserved susceptibility across the avian tree; host phylogeny explained substantial variation in infection status, and results were robust to phylogenetic uncertainty. Our study suggests that susceptibility is governed, in part, by conserved, latent aspects of anti-parasite defence. This demonstrates the importance of deep phylogeny for understanding present-day ecological interactions.
在多宿主、多寄生虫组合中，易感性的变化是普遍存在的，这对这些系统中的生态学和进化有深远的影响。通过分析不同地区的群落，可以揭示宿主之间对寄生虫易感性在系统发生上的保守程度。我们在安第斯热带地区约 4500 米的海拔范围内，对代表 40 个科和 523 个种的 3983 只鸟类进行了血孢子虫寄生虫筛查。为了量化宿主系统发生对感染状态的影响，我们应用了贝叶斯系统发生多层次模型，其中包括一系列环境、空间、时间、生活史和生态预测因子。我们发现了鸟类系统发生中存在着深度保守的易感性证据；宿主系统发生解释了感染状态的大量变异，并且结果对系统发生不确定性具有稳健性。我们的研究表明，易感性部分受到抗寄生虫防御的保守、潜在方面的控制。这表明深入的系统发生对理解当今的生态相互作用非常重要。
