Parasite dispersal can shape host–parasite interactions at both deep and shallow timescales. One approach to understanding the effects of dispersal is to study parasite lineages that differ in dispersal capability but are from the same group of hosts. In this study, we compared phylogenetic and population genetic patterns of wing and body lice from ground‐doves. Wing lice are more capable of dispersal than body lice. We sequenced full genomes of individual lice for multiple representatives of several wing and body louse species. From these data, we assembled genes for phylogenetic analysis and called SNPs for population genetic analysis. At the phylogenetic level, body lice showed more codivergence with their hosts than did wing lice. However, both wing and body lice exhibited some phylogenetic congruence with their hosts. Within species, body lice showed more population genetic structure than wing lice, although both types of lice showed some structure according to biogeography. Body lice also had significantly lower heterozygosity than wing lice, suggesting more inbreeding. Our results demonstrate that dispersal can shape a host–parasite system across evolutionary time, but also that other factors (e.g., host association and biogeography) can have varying degrees of influence on different groups of parasites and at different evolutionary scales.
Host‐specialist parasites of endangered large vertebrates are in many cases more endangered than their hosts. In particular, low host population densities and reduced among‐host transmission rates are expected to lead to inbreeding within parasite infrapopulations living on single host individuals. Furthermore, spatial population structures of directly‐transmitted parasites should be concordant with those of their hosts. Using population genomic approaches, we investigated inbreeding and population structure in a host‐specialist seal louse (
- Award ID(s):
- 1855812
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10473230
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Molecular Ecology
- Volume:
- 31
- Issue:
- 18
- ISSN:
- 0962-1083
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 4593 to 4606
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- ["conservation genomics, genome resequencing, host\u2013parasite interactions, Saimaa ringed seal, seal louse"]
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Classical theory suggests that parasites will exhibit higher fitness in sympatric relative to allopatric host populations (local adaptation). However, evidence for local adaptation in natural host–parasite systems is often equivocal, emphasizing the need for infection experiments conducted over realistic geographic scales and comparisons among species with varied life history traits. Here, we used infection experiments to test how two trematode (flatworm) species (
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Location Global.
Time period 1994–2019.
Major taxa studied Avian haemosporidian parasites (genera
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