Świsłocka Magdalena, Borkowska Anetta, Matosiuk Maciej, Czajkowska Magdalena, Duda Norbert, Kowalczyk Rafał, Ratkiewicz Mirosław
Department of Zoology and Genetics, Faculty of Biology, University of Bialystok, Ciołkowskiego 1J st, 15-245, Białystok, Poland.
Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących No 2 W Białymstoku, Narewska 11, 15-840, Białystok, Poland.
Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2020 Oct 22;13:171-177. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.10.008. eCollection 2020 Dec.
Simultaneous infection with multiple parasite species in an individual host is often observed in wild populations. The understanding of parasite species distribution across populations of wild animals is of basic and applied importance, because parasites can have pronounced effects on the dynamics of host population. Here, we quantified prevalence and endoparasite species richness in moose and explored sex-biased polyparasitism using diagnostic PCR method coupled with DNA sequencing of moose faecal samples from the Biebrza River valley, North-Eastern Poland. This is the largest moose population in Central Europe that has not been harvested for almost 20 years. We also evaluated the appropriate quantity of faeces for detecting DNA of parasite species. Faecal samples were screened for molecular markers of 10 different species of endoparasites. Endoparasite prevalence was high in the studied population. Almost all of the samples (98%) tested positive for at least one parasite species, and we found polyparasitism in the majority of the tested individuals. The number of different parasite species found in a single individual ranged from 0 to 9. The parasite species richness was significantly higher in male than in female individuals. The most prevalent were liver fluke and gastrointestinal nematodes sp. Of the ten endoparasite species detected, only the prevalence of the tapeworm was significantly higher in males than in females. Additionally, we identified co-occurrence associations of parasite species, which tended to be random, but we noted some evidence of both positive and negative associations. Our findings promote applications of molecular methods for parasite species identification from non-invasively collected faecal samples in management and scientific study of moose population, which should include investigation of parasite status, and in health monitoring programs for other wild cervids.
在野生种群的单个宿主中，经常观察到同时感染多种寄生虫物种的情况。了解寄生虫物种在野生动物种群中的分布具有基础和应用重要性，因为寄生虫可对宿主种群动态产生显著影响。在此，我们采用诊断性聚合酶链反应（PCR）方法并结合对来自波兰东北部别布扎河谷的驼鹿粪便样本进行DNA测序，对驼鹿体内寄生虫的感染率和体内寄生虫物种丰富度进行了量化，并探讨了寄生虫多重感染中的性别偏向性。这是中欧最大的驼鹿种群，近20年来未进行过捕猎。我们还评估了用于检测寄生虫物种DNA的粪便适宜量。对粪便样本进行了10种不同体内寄生虫分子标记的筛查。在所研究的种群中，体内寄生虫感染率很高。几乎所有样本（98%）至少对一种寄生虫物种检测呈阳性，并且我们在大多数检测个体中发现了多重感染。在单个个体中发现的不同寄生虫物种数量从0到9不等。雄性个体中的寄生虫物种丰富度显著高于雌性个体。最常见的是肝吸虫和胃肠道线虫属。在所检测的10种体内寄生虫物种中，只有绦虫在雄性中的感染率显著高于雌性。此外，我们确定了寄生虫物种的共现关联，这些关联往往是随机的，但我们注意到了一些正相关和负相关的证据。我们的研究结果促进了分子方法在从非侵入性采集的粪便样本中鉴定寄生虫物种方面的应用，这在驼鹿种群的管理和科学研究中应包括对寄生虫状况的调查，以及在其他野生鹿类的健康监测项目中。
