Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T23:28:17.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Measuring aggregation of parasites at different host population levels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

T. Boulinier*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, C.N.R.S. – URA 258, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252 Paris, France
A. R. Ives
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
E. Danchin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, C.N.R.S. – URA 258, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252 Paris, France
*
* Corresponding author: National Biological Service, Patuxent Environmental Science Center, 11510 American Holly Drive, Laurel, Maryland 20708, USA.

Summary

Parasites are generally found aggregated among hosts. In this paper we propose a method for measuring aggregation at different scales in the host population. We use the method to characterize the pattern of aggregation of the tick Ixodes uriae on chicks of its seabird host, the Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla. We found evidence of aggregation at the among-nest scale, but not among chicks within nests. This shows that the processes leading to aggregation occur at a higher scale than the nest. The methods we develop provide a way to compare parasite aggregation at different scales in a quantitative fashion and can be applied in a large number of epidemiological studies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. M. & Gordon, D. M. (1982). Processes influencing the distribution of parasite numbers within host populations with special emphasis on parasite-induced host mortalities. Parasitology 85, 373–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host–parasite population interactions. I. Regulatory processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 219–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulinier, T. & Danchin, E. (1996). Population trends in Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla colonies in relation to tick infestation. Ibis (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chastel, C. (1988). Tick-borne virus infections of marine birds. In Advances in Disease Vector Research Vol. 5 (ed. Harris, K. F.), pp. 2560. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Danchin, E. (1992). The incidence of tick parasite Ixodes uriae in Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla colonies in relation to the age of the colony, and a mechanism of infecting new colonies. Ibis 134, 134–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, D. C. (1983). The ecology of tick parasitism on densely nesting Peruvian seabirds. Ecology 64, 110–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eveleigh, E. S. & Threlfall, W. (1974). The biology of Ixodes (Ceratixodes) uriae White, 1952 in Newfoundland. Acarologia 16, 621–35.Google Scholar
Grafen, A. & Woolhouse, M. E. J. (1993). Does the Negative Binomial Distribution add up ? Parasitology Today 9, 475–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gregory, R. D., Keymer, A. E. & Clarke, J. R. (1990). Genetics, sex and exposure: the ecology of Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Nematoda) in the wood mouse. Journal of Animal Ecology 59, 363–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, R. D. & Montgomery, S. S. J. & Montgomery, W. I. (1992). Population biology of Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Nematoda) in the wood mouse. Journal of Animal Ecology 61, 749–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, R. D. & Woolhouse, M. E. J. (1993). Quantification of parasite aggregation: a simulation study. Acta Tropica 54, 131–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guyatt, H. L., Smith, T., Gryseels, B., Lengeler, C., Mshinda, H., Siziya, S., Salanave, B., Mohome, N., Makwala, J., Ngimbi, K. P. & Tanner, M. (1994). Aggregation in schistosomiasis: comparison of the relationships between prevalence and intensity in different endemic areas. Parasitology 109, 4455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ives, A. R. (1988). Aggregation and coexistence of competitors. Annales Zoologici Fennici 25, 7588.Google Scholar
Ives, A. R. (1990). Aggregation and coexistence in a carrion fly community. Ecological Monographs 61, 7594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, M. (1967). Mean crowding. Journal of Animal Ecology 36, 130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medley, G. F. (1992). Which comes first in host–parasite systems: density dependence or parasite distribution. Parasitology Today 8, 321–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munger, J. C., Karasov, W. H. & Chang, D. (1989). Host genetics as a cause of overdispersion of parasites among hosts: how general a phenomenon. Journal of Parasitology 75, 707–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Needham, G. R. & Teel, P. D. (1991). Off-host physiological ecology of ixodid ticks. Annual Review of Entomology 36, 659–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olsen, B., Jaenson, T. G., Noppa, L., Bunikis, J. & Bergström, S. (1993). A Lyme borreliosis cycle in seabirds and Ixodes uriae ticks. Nature, London 362, 340–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pielou, E. C. (1977). Mathematical Ecology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Randolph, S. E. (1975). Patterns of distribution of the tick Ixodes trianguliceps Birula on its hosts. Journal of Animal Ecology 44, 451–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS Institute Inc. (1990). SAS User's manual. Cary, NC, USA.Google Scholar
Steele, M., Davies, C. R., Jones, L. D., Nuttall, P. A. & Rideout, K. (1990). Life history of the seabird tick Ixodes (Ceratixodes) uriae at St Abb's Head, Scotland. Acarologia 31, 125–30.Google Scholar
Taylor, L. R., Woiwod, I. P. & Perry, J. N. (1978). The density-dependence of spatial behavior and the rarity of randomness. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 383406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wasson, D. L., Dick, T. A., Arnasson, N., Strickland, D. & Grundmann, A. w. (1986). Host genetics: a key factor in regulating the distribution of parasites in natural host populations. Journal of Parasitology 72, 334–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar