Corresponding authors: Claire S. Teitelbaum, cteitelbaum@uga.edu; Richard J. Hall, dr.richard.hall@gmail.com; Sonia Altizer, saltizer@uga.edu
Summary Author: Clarissa Keisling, ceid@uga.edu
Ungulates, or hoofed animals, are found all over the world and display a variety of movement behaviors, such as seasonal migration, nomadism, and range residency. Disease ecologists predict that these movements can either increase their exposure to new parasites, or could reduce infection risk by allowing them to escape parasite-ridden habitats. For this reason, these roaming animals provide an ideal study system for examining host-parasite relationships and long-distance movement strategies, especially in light of recent environmental changes due to anthropogenic activities. In a recently published study, Claire Teitelbaum, a CEID member and graduate student, along with CEID members Richard Hall and Sonia Altizer, present the first large-scale comparative study looking at the relationship between parasitism and movement strategy in ungulates, examining the extent to which (host) movement strategy predicts variation in micro- and macro parasite diversity and prevalence. For 93 different ungulate species, the authors used linear models to estimate parasite species richness and found these animals to be host to 765 unique parasite species. Specifically, they found that migratory ungulates have higher parasite species richness than residents or nomads, supporting a new ‘environmental tracking’ hypothesis which predicts that through migration, parasites are able to encounter more suitable environments that facilitate -year-round transmission. The results of this comparative analysis are important for predicting host-parasite dynamics in migratory animals, especially in light of future environmental change.
Teitelbaum, Claire S., et al. “Migratory Behaviour Predicts Greater Parasite Diversity in Ungulates.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 285, no. 1875, 2018, p. 20180089., doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0089.