10.5061/DRYAD.SK435
Lesniak, Ines
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Heckmann, Ilja
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Franz, Mathias
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Greenwood, Alex D.
Freie Universität Berlin
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Heiltinger, Emanuel
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Hofer, Heribert
Freie Universität Berlin
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Krone, Oliver
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Heitlinger, Emanuel
Humboldt University of Berlin
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Data from: Recolonizing grey wolves increase parasite infection risk in
their prey
Dryad
dataset
2018
Endoparasites
Endoparasites
Holocene
Canis lupus
2018-12-19T00:00:00Z
2018-12-19T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3839
99993 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The recent recolonization of Central Europe by the European grey wolf
(Canis lupus) provides an opportunity to study the dynamics of parasite
transmission for cases when a definitive host returns after a phase of
local extinction. We investigated whether a newly established wolf
population increased the prevalence of those parasites in ungulate
intermediate hosts representing wolf prey, whether some parasite species
are particularly well adapted to wolves, and the potential basis for such
adaptations. We recorded Sarcocystis species richness in wolves and
Sarcocystis prevalence in ungulates harvested in study sites with and
without permanent wolf presence in Germany using microscopy and DNA
metabarcoding. Sarcocystis prevalence in red deer (Cervus elaphus) was
significantly higher in wolf areas (79.7%) than in control areas (26.3%)
but not in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) (97.2% vs. 90.4%) or wild boar
(Sus scrofa) (82.8% vs. 64.9%). Of 11 Sarcocystis species, S. taeniata and
S. grueneri occurred more often in wolves than expected from the
Sarcocystis infection patterns of ungulate prey. Both Sarcocystis species
showed a higher increase in prevalence in ungulates in wolf areas than
other Sarcocystis species, suggesting that they are particularly well
adapted to wolves, and are examples of ‘wolf specialists’. Sarcocystis
species richness in wolves was significantly higher in pups than in
adults. ‘Wolf specialists’ persisted during wolf maturation. The results
of this study demonstrate that (1) predator–prey interactions influence
parasite prevalence, if both predator and prey are part of the parasite
life cycle, (2) mesopredators do not necessarily replace the apex predator
in parasite transmission dynamics for particular parasites of which the
apex predator is the definitive host, even if meso– and apex predators
were from the same taxonomic family (here: Canidae, e.g. red foxes Vulpes
vulpes), and (3) age–dependent immune maturation contributes to the
control of protozoan infection in wolves.
Sarcocystis results table preyAs described in the Material &
Methods section (2.4. Bioinformatics) of the corresponding paper, this csv
results table contains the assignment of 18S operational taxonomic units
(OTUs) to Sarcocystis species, when applying an identity threshold of 98%
using BLAST® (blastn, Altschul et al., 1990). Only hits with a biunique
best bit score for one parasite species were collected. Additionally, the
table provides the sample ID, ungulate species, OTU number, amplicon name,
blast identity as well as information about whether samples had been
collected in an area recolonized by wolves or not.
Germany