10.5061/DRYAD.MF202
Mihaljevic, Joseph R.
University of Colorado Boulder
Northern Arizona University
Hoye, Bethany J.
University of Colorado Boulder
Johnson, Pieter T. J.
University of Colorado Boulder
Data from: Parasite metacommunities: evaluating the roles of host
community composition and environmental gradients in structuring symbiont
communities within amphibians
Dryad
dataset
2018
symbionts
Trematodes
Parasites
Disease ecology
2018-07-07T00:00:00Z
2018-07-07T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12735
81947965 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. Ecologists increasingly report the structures of metacommunities for
free-living species, yet far less is known about the composition of
symbiont communities through space and time. Understanding the drivers of
symbiont community patterns has implications ranging from emerging
infectious disease to managing host microbiomes. 2. Using symbiont
communities from amphibian hosts sampled from wetlands of California, USA,
we quantified the effects of spatial, habitat filtering, and host
community components on symbiont occupancy and overall metacommunity
structure. 3. We built upon a statistical method to describe metacommunity
structure that accounts for imperfect detection in survey data – detection
error-corrected elements of metacommunity structure (DECEMS) – by adding
an analysis to identify covariates of community turnover. We applied our
model to a metacommunity of 8 parasite taxa observed in 3571 Pacific
chorus frogs (Pseudacris regilla) surveyed from 174 wetlands over 5 years.
4. Symbiont metacommunity structure varied across years, showing nested
structure in three years and random structure in two years. Species
turnover was most consistently influenced by spatial and host community
components. Occupancy generally increased in more southeastern wetlands,
and snail (intermediate-host) community composition had strong effects on
most symbiont taxa. 5. We have used sophisticated but accessible
statistical methods to reveal that spatial components - which influence
colonization - and host community composition - which mediates
transmission - both drive symbiont community composition in this system.
These methods allow us to associate broad patterns of community turnover
to local, species-level effects, ultimately improving our understanding of
spatial community dynamics.
Mihaljevic_etal_JAE_SMData and code for "Parasite metacommunities:
Evaluating the roles of host community composition and environmental
gradients in structuring symbiont communities within amphibians." A
README file is included to explain each element of the .ZIP file.
California