Krasnov Boris R, Vinarski Maxim V, Korallo-Vinarskaya Natalia P, Stanko Michal
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Beer-Sheva, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
Laboratory of Macroecology and Biogeography of Invertebrates, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Parasitol Res. 2025 Apr 29;124(4):45. doi: 10.1007/s00436-025-08492-2.
We investigated the contributions of female and male hosts to the structure of individual-based host-parasite networks, using 21 species of small mammals from two regions (West Siberia and eastern Slovakia) and two taxa of ectoparasitic arthropods (fleas and gamasid mites). We asked whether (a) the values of individual host position indices (individual strength, nested rank, the degree of individual specialization, and the eigenvector centrality) and individual host roles differed between female and male hosts in each network and (if yes) were associated with differences in the infestation levels, (b) differences between sexes (if any) were further translated into differences in the network structure (nestedness and network specificity), and (c) differences between female and male hosts in their positions and roles and the effect of these differences on the network structure differed between host-flea and host-mite networks. In the majority of individual-based host-ectoparasite networks, female and male hosts differed in their positions despite a general lack of differences in the infestation levels. The distribution of the roles played in a network mostly did not differ between sexes. The extent of position differences between sexes affected the structure of host-flea, but not host-mite, networks in terms of the network specificity. In addition, the occurrence and the direction of these differences (i.e., the greater value of the position index in either female or male hosts) often varied (a) between host-flea and host-mite networks in the same host, (b) between host species within host-flea and host-mite networks, and (c) between the two regions in the same host-flea or host-mite network. We conclude that differences in the positions of male and female hosts in individual-based host-parasite networks are mediated by host biology, parasite biology, and environmental factors.
我们利用来自两个地区（西西伯利亚和斯洛伐克东部）的21种小型哺乳动物以及两类外寄生节肢动物（跳蚤和革螨），研究了雌性和雄性宿主对基于个体的宿主 - 寄生虫网络结构的贡献。我们探讨了以下问题：（a）在每个网络中，雌性和雄性宿主的个体宿主位置指数（个体强度、嵌套等级、个体专业化程度和特征向量中心性）以及个体宿主角色的值是否存在差异（如果存在差异），这些差异是否与感染水平的差异相关；（b）性别差异（如果有的话）是否进一步转化为网络结构（嵌套性和网络特异性）的差异；（c）宿主 - 跳蚤网络和宿主 - 螨网络中，雌性和雄性宿主在其位置和角色上的差异以及这些差异对网络结构的影响是否不同。在大多数基于个体的宿主 - 外寄生虫网络中，尽管感染水平总体上没有差异，但雌性和雄性宿主在其位置上存在差异。在网络中所扮演角色的分布在性别之间大多没有差异。就网络特异性而言，性别之间位置差异的程度影响了宿主 - 跳蚤网络的结构，但不影响宿主 - 螨网络的结构。此外，这些差异的出现和方向（即位置指数在雌性或雄性宿主中哪个值更大）通常会（a）在同一宿主的宿主 - 跳蚤网络和宿主 - 螨网络之间、（b）在宿主 - 跳蚤网络和宿主 - 螨网络内的宿主物种之间以及（c）在同一宿主 - 跳蚤或宿主 - 螨网络的两个地区之间有所不同。我们得出结论，在基于个体的宿主 - 寄生虫网络中，雄性和雌性宿主位置的差异是由宿主生物学、寄生虫生物学和环境因素介导的。
