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Helminth species richness in wild wood mice, Apodemus sylvaticus, is enhanced by the presence of the intestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

J. M. BEHNKE ,
C. EIRA ,
M. ROGAN ,
F. S. GILBERT ,
J. TORRES ,
J. MIQUEL  and
J. W. LEWIS
J. M. BEHNKE*
Affiliation:
School of Biology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
C. EIRA
Affiliation:
CESAM and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
M. ROGAN
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK
F. S. GILBERT
Affiliation:
School of Biology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
J. TORRES
Affiliation:
Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Joan XXIII, sn, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
J. MIQUEL
Affiliation:
Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Joan XXIII, sn, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
J. W. LEWIS
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
*
*Corresponding author: School of Biology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. Tel: 0115 951 3208. Fax 0115 951 3251. E-mail: [email protected]
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Summary

We analysed 3 independently collected datasets of fully censused helminth burdens in wood mice, Apodemus sylvaticus, testing the a priori hypothesis of Behnke et al. (2005) that the presence of the intestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus predisposes wood mice to carrying other species of helminths. In Portugal, mice carrying H. polygyrus showed a higher prevalence of other helminths but the magnitude of the effect was seasonal. In Egham, mice with H. polygyrus showed a higher prevalence of other helminth species, not confounded by other factors. In Malham Tarn, mice carrying H. polygyrus were more likely to be infected with other species, but only among older mice. Allowing for other factors, heavy residual H. polygyrus infections carried more species of other helminths in both the Portugal and Egham data; species richness in Malham was too low to conduct a similar analysis, but as H. polygyrus worm burdens increased, so the prevalence of other helminths also increased. Our results support those of Behnke et al. (2005), providing firm evidence that at the level of species richness a highly predictable element of co-infections in wood mice has now been defined: infection with H. polygyrus has detectable consequences for the susceptibility of wood mice to other intestinal helminth species.

Keywords

Apodemus sylvaticusassociations of helminthsco-occurrence of helminthsHeligmosomoides polygyrushelminthshelminth species richnessinteractions between helminths
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 136 , Issue 7 , June 2009 , pp. 793 - 804
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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