10.5061/DRYAD.50603
Clark, Nicholas J.
University of Queensland
Griffith University
Clegg, Sonya M.
University of Oxford
Data from: Integrating phylogenetic and ecological distances reveals new
insights into parasite host specificity
Dryad
dataset
2017
Avian malaria
Plasmodium
phylogenetic dispersion
phylogenetic ß diversity
habitat niche
Host specificity
Haemoproteus
2017-03-10T17:44:07Z
2017-03-10T17:44:07Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14101
322274 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The range of hosts a pathogen infects (host specificity) is a key element
of disease risk that may be influenced by both shared phylogenetic history
and shared ecological attributes of prospective hosts. Phylospecificity
indices quantify host specificity in terms of host relatedness, but can
fail to capture ecological attributes that increase susceptibility. For
instance, similarity in habitat niche may expose phylogenetically
unrelated host species to similar pathogen assemblages. Using a recently
proposed method that integrates multiple distances, we assess the relative
contributions of host phylogenetic and functional distances to pathogen
host specificity (functional–phylogenetic host specificity). We apply this
index to a data set of avian malaria parasite (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus
spp.) infections from Melanesian birds to show that multihost parasites
generally use hosts that are closely related, not hosts with similar
habitat niches. We also show that host community phylogenetic ß-diversity
(Pßd) predicts parasite Pßd and that individual host species carry
phylogenetically clustered Haemoproteus parasite assemblages. Our findings
were robust to phylogenetic uncertainty, and suggest that phylogenetic
ancestry of both hosts and parasites plays important roles in driving
avian malaria host specificity and community assembly. However,
restricting host specificity analyses to either recent or historical
timescales identified notable exceptions, including a ‘habitat specialist’
parasite that infects a diversity of unrelated host species with similar
habitat niches. This work highlights that integrating ecological and
phylogenetic distances provides a powerful approach to better understand
drivers of pathogen host specificity and community assembly.
Raw Parasite Infection DataThis comma-separated .csv file contains
infection data for individual birds. Included are the bird species name,
sampling location, infection status and parasite lineage
identification.Clark_Clegg_Supplementary_Data_RawInfectionData.csvAvian
host habitat niche traitsThis comma-separated .csv file contains avian
species distribution data, feeding preferences, forest strata preferences
and habitat breadth
indices.Clark_Clegg_Supplementary_Data_BirdTraits.csvAnalysis R code and
functionsThis .doc file contains example R code and annotated functions
necessary to carry out analyses described in the
manuscript.Clark_Clegg_Supplementary_Data_RCode.docx
Vanuatu
New Caledonia