Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis
Infection probability, load, and community structure of helminths varies strongly between and within animal populations. This can be ascribed to environmental stochasticity or due to individual characteristics of the host such as their age or sex. Other, but understudied, factors are the hosts'...
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doaj-d0ff3211e40c4a6faa5ebbf1e84d7e2b2021-08-17T05:38:06ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Veterinary Science2297-17692021-08-01810.3389/fvets.2021.669058669058Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensisBram Vanden Broecke0Lisse Bernaerts1Alexis Ribas2Vincent Sluydts3Ladslaus Mnyone4Erik Matthysen5Herwig Leirs6Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumEvolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumParasitology Section, Department of Biology, Healthcare and Environment, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science, IRBio (Research Institute of Biodiversity), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainEvolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumPest Management Center, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, TanzaniaEvolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumEvolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumInfection probability, load, and community structure of helminths varies strongly between and within animal populations. This can be ascribed to environmental stochasticity or due to individual characteristics of the host such as their age or sex. Other, but understudied, factors are the hosts' behavior and co-infection patterns. In this study, we used the multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) as a model system to investigate how the hosts' sex, age, exploration behavior, and viral infection history affects their infection risk, parasitic load, and community structure of gastrointestinal helminths. We hypothesized that the hosts' exploration behavior would play a key role in the risk for infection by different gastrointestinal helminths, whereby highly explorative individuals would have a higher infection risk leading to a wider diversity of helminths and a larger load compared to less explorative individuals. Fieldwork was performed in Morogoro, Tanzania, where we trapped a total of 214 individual mice. Their exploratory behavior was characterized using a hole-board test after which we collected the helminths inside their gastrointestinal tract. During our study, we found helminths belonging to eight different genera: Hymenolepis sp., Protospirura muricola, Syphacia sp., Trichuris mastomysi, Gongylonema sp., Pterygodermatites sp., Raillietina sp., and Inermicapsifer sp. and one family: Trichostrongylidae. Hierarchical modeling of species communities (HMSC) was used to investigate the effect of the different host-related factors on the infection probability, parasite load, and community structure of these helminths. Our results show that species richness was higher in adults and in females compared to juveniles and males, respectively. Contrary to our expectations, we found that less explorative individuals had higher infection probability with different helminths resulting in a higher diversity, which could be due to a higher exposure rate to these helminths and/or behavioral modification due to the infection.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.669058/fullMastomys natalensishelminthsendoparasitesexploration behavioranimal personalityco-infection |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Bram Vanden Broecke Lisse Bernaerts Alexis Ribas Vincent Sluydts Ladslaus Mnyone Erik Matthysen Herwig Leirs |
spellingShingle |
Bram Vanden Broecke Lisse Bernaerts Alexis Ribas Vincent Sluydts Ladslaus Mnyone Erik Matthysen Herwig Leirs Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis Frontiers in Veterinary Science Mastomys natalensis helminths endoparasites exploration behavior animal personality co-infection |
author_facet |
Bram Vanden Broecke Lisse Bernaerts Alexis Ribas Vincent Sluydts Ladslaus Mnyone Erik Matthysen Herwig Leirs |
author_sort |
Bram Vanden Broecke |
title |
Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis |
title_short |
Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis |
title_full |
Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis |
title_fullStr |
Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Linking Behavior, Co-infection Patterns, and Viral Infection Risk With the Whole Gastrointestinal Helminth Community Structure in Mastomys natalensis |
title_sort |
linking behavior, co-infection patterns, and viral infection risk with the whole gastrointestinal helminth community structure in mastomys natalensis |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Veterinary Science |
issn |
2297-1769 |
publishDate |
2021-08-01 |
description |
Infection probability, load, and community structure of helminths varies strongly between and within animal populations. This can be ascribed to environmental stochasticity or due to individual characteristics of the host such as their age or sex. Other, but understudied, factors are the hosts' behavior and co-infection patterns. In this study, we used the multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) as a model system to investigate how the hosts' sex, age, exploration behavior, and viral infection history affects their infection risk, parasitic load, and community structure of gastrointestinal helminths. We hypothesized that the hosts' exploration behavior would play a key role in the risk for infection by different gastrointestinal helminths, whereby highly explorative individuals would have a higher infection risk leading to a wider diversity of helminths and a larger load compared to less explorative individuals. Fieldwork was performed in Morogoro, Tanzania, where we trapped a total of 214 individual mice. Their exploratory behavior was characterized using a hole-board test after which we collected the helminths inside their gastrointestinal tract. During our study, we found helminths belonging to eight different genera: Hymenolepis sp., Protospirura muricola, Syphacia sp., Trichuris mastomysi, Gongylonema sp., Pterygodermatites sp., Raillietina sp., and Inermicapsifer sp. and one family: Trichostrongylidae. Hierarchical modeling of species communities (HMSC) was used to investigate the effect of the different host-related factors on the infection probability, parasite load, and community structure of these helminths. Our results show that species richness was higher in adults and in females compared to juveniles and males, respectively. Contrary to our expectations, we found that less explorative individuals had higher infection probability with different helminths resulting in a higher diversity, which could be due to a higher exposure rate to these helminths and/or behavioral modification due to the infection. |
topic |
Mastomys natalensis helminths endoparasites exploration behavior animal personality co-infection |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.669058/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
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