Sex differences in flea infections among rodent hosts: is there a male bias?
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Date
2015
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Abstract
Recognizing patterns of parasite distribution
among wildlife hosts is of major importance due to growing
risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases to humans. Thus,
sex-dependent parasite distribution in higher vertebrates is
extensively studied, and males are often found more parasit-
ized than females. Male-biased parasitism may be the result of
weaker immunocompetence of male hosts owing to the im-
munosuppressive effect of androgens. Moreover, larger hosts
(males) may demonstrate higher parasite infestation levels
than smaller individuals (females), as they constitute a better
nutritional resource for parasites and provide them with a
greater variety of niches. In the present work, we investigated
sex-dependent patterns of flea distribution among three com-
mon rodent species (Apodemus agrarius, Apodemus
flavicollis, and Myodes glareolus). We hypothesized that
males have a higher flea infestation than females. We confirm
male-biased parasitism in A. agrarius and M. glareolus, but
not in A. flavicollis. Additionally, flea infestation increased
with body mass in A. agrarius, but not in A. flavicollis and
M. glareolus. The detected differences in parasite distribution
among sexes are probably the result of immunosuppressive
effects of androgens and spatial behavior of males.
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Sponsor
The research was supported by the
Science and Technology Foundation (Portuguese Ministry of Science,
Technology and Higher Education), grant no. SFRH/BD/ 31602/2006
and the budget of the Department of Systematic Zoology (Faculty of
Biology AMU, PoznaĆ )
Keywords
sex-biased parasitism, flea abundance, body mass, rodents, small mammals, Apodemus agrarius, Apodemus flavicollis, Myodes glareolus
Citation
Parasitology Research, 2015, Volume 114, Issue 1, pp 337-341