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Impact of host sex and age on the diversity of endoparasites and structure of individual-based host-parasite networks in nyalas (Tragelaphus angasii Angas) from three game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa

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Abstract

In recent years, numerous studies have examined the effect of host sex and age on the structure of parasite communities in several host taxa under various environmental conditions and in different geographic regions. However, the influence of such factors on the structure of host-parasite networks has received less attention, and remarkably few studies have been carried out on large terrestrial mammals. In this study, we investigated the effects of host age and sex on the parasite infra- and component communities of nyalas (Tragelaphus angasii) and on the structure of individual-based nyala-endoparasite networks. We also aimed to evaluate to what extent these effects vary spatially and if they are mediated by conservation management. Based on a data set of internal macroparasites of 74 nyalas from three game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal province, we found that host age strongly influenced parasite community structure as well as the structure of parasite-nyala networks, whereas host sex played a minor role. However, the effects of both host sex and age were mediated by environmental conditions and thus led to different patterns at the three localities. Our findings highlight that host-parasite communities from different localities should not be pooled when conducting host-parasite network and community studies as this may bias results and mask patterns that are typical for a given locality.

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Data availability

All data included are from previously published work. The datasets used and/or analyzed are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

We used standard codes of the respective R packages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Collection of Animal Helminths, Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors Programme, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Private Bag X05, Onderstepoort, 0110, South Africa

    Kerstin Junker

  2. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110, South Africa

    Joop Boomker & Ivan G. Horak

  3. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Boris R. Krasnov

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  1. Kerstin Junker
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  2. Joop Boomker
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  3. Ivan G. Horak
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  4. Boris R. Krasnov
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Contributions

KJ and BRK conceived the study. JB and IGH collected the material and identified the parasites. BRK analyzed data. KJ and BRK drafted the manuscript. All authors participated in finalizing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kerstin Junker.

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Key findings

• Helminth parasite communities of nyalas are moderately species rich and mainly composed of directly transmitted parasites.

• Host age is more important than host sex in determining community and network structure.

• Environmental conditions influence helminth transmission and cause local variation of infection patterns.

• Data from different sites should not be pooled for host-parasite network analyses as this could mask locality specific trends.

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Junker, K., Boomker, J., Horak, I.G. et al. Impact of host sex and age on the diversity of endoparasites and structure of individual-based host-parasite networks in nyalas (Tragelaphus angasii Angas) from three game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Parasitol Res 121, 3249–3267 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07653-x

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