Helminth communities in three sympatric rodents from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: contrasting biomass and numerical abundance

Brazilian Journal of Biology

Ro. Simões²  A. Maldonado-júnior¹  Jl. Luque² 

[1] ,Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de JaneiroSeropédica RJ ,Brazil

关键词: biomass;    abundance;    helminth community structure;    sympatric rodents;    Atlantic Forest;    biomassa;    abundância;    estrutura da comunidade de helmintos;    roedores simpátricos;    Mata Atlântica;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1519-69842012000500018

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The study of parasite body size is an important approach to understand the different patterns of helminth community structure, once it is usually analysed using only numerical descriptors which do not capture size heterogeneity among parasite species. In the present study, we compared the pattern in the helminth community of three sympatric wild rodent species Akodon cursor, A. montensis and Oligoryzomys nigripes using numerical abundance and biomass approaches. The cestode Rodentolepis akodontis was the worm with highest biomass in the three rodents. The trichostrongylid Stilestrongylus lanfrediae presented highest biomass in O. nigripes and represented 70% of the total numeric abundance of parasites. Interestingly, for Akodon spp. the species with more biomass represented less than 10% of the total numerical abundance. Parasites with the higher numeric abundance do not have the largest body size. Although the biomass pattern is different from numeric abundance, this difference does not influence in the helminth distribution community among the three sympatric hosts. The status change of a helminth species within the community due to its volumetric dominance might justify a new approach since parasites belonging to different taxa obtain resources from the host in different ways.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
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