Comparison of metazoan parasite communities of chub (Leuciscus cephalus) in European Rivers: effect of latitude, geographic distance and host phylogeny
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| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The composition and biological diversity of parasite communities is a result of many determinants widely discussed in parasite ecology in last years. In this study, two hypotheses that are applicable to analyse the biogeographical gradients of parasite diversity were tested using metazoan parasite communities of fifteen chub populations (Leuciscus cephalus): a) latitudinal gradient and b) similarity distance decay. Because present-day parasite diversity is not only result of current ecological processes, but also historical processes, the phylogenetic distance between host populations across its distribution range were included in the analyses. We found that the localities in marginal zones of chub distribution showed lower parasite species richness and diversity in both infracommunities and component communities. The latitudinal gradient was observed for species richness and abundance of Trematoda, abundance of Diplostomum species and the abundance of monogenean species Dactylogyrus vistulae. The similarity in parasite communities significantly decreased with increasing geographical distance and phylogenetic distance. For the first time not only geographical distance but also phylogenetic distance between fish populations was tested, while we revealed that phylogenetic distance is more important determinant of similarity in parasite communities than geographical distance between host populations. |
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