Publication: Incorporating parasite systematics in comparative analyses of variation in spleen mass and testes sizes of rodents
Issued Date
2011-11-01
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ISSN
14698161
00311820
00311820
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2-s2.0-84856259343
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Parasitology. Vol.138, No.13 (2011), 1804-1814
Suggested Citation
Nicolas Ponlet, Kitipong Chaisiri, Julien Claude, Serge Morand Incorporating parasite systematics in comparative analyses of variation in spleen mass and testes sizes of rodents. Parasitology. Vol.138, No.13 (2011), 1804-1814. doi:10.1017/S003118201100028X Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/11251
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Title
Incorporating parasite systematics in comparative analyses of variation in spleen mass and testes sizes of rodents
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Abstract
Parasite diversity is hypothesized to act on host life-history traits through investment in immunity. In order to incorporate the diversity of the parasite community that an individual host or a host species may face, two indices can be used: Taxonomic Species Richness and Taxonomic Entropy, where the taxonomic information is incorporated with the taxonomic weight. We tested whether these indices correlate with several morphological traits potentially implicated in immune defence and in reproduction, using data on gastrointestinal helminths and their rodent hosts sampled in Southeast Asia. We found no relationship between parasite diversity indices and either spleen mass or testes size at the intraspecific level, i.e. at the level of individuals. At the interspecific level, we found no relationship between the parasite diversity indices and testes size. However, we found that female spleen mass is significantly influenced by the specific species richness of parasites, whereas male spleen mass is influenced by individual mean parasite diversity indices. We concluded that female spleen mass may have evolved in response to gastrointestinal helminth pressure acting at species levels, while in males, the individual spleen mass could be constrained by other factors, such as the blood storage function of the spleen. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011.