Data from: Your infections are what you eat: how host ecology shapes the helminth parasite communities of lizards

1. Understanding how parasite communities are assembled, and the factors
that influence their richness, can improve our knowledge of parasite-host
interactions and help to predict the spread of infectious diseases.
Previous comparative analyses have found significant influences of host
ecology and life history, but focused on a few select host taxa. 2. Host
diet and habitat use play key roles in the acquisition of parasitic
helminths as many are trophically-transmitted, making these attributes
potentially key indicators of infection risk. Given the paucity of
comparative studies with non-piscine, non-avian or non-mammalian hosts, it
is critical to examine the degree to which host ecology influences
parasite communities in other host taxa in order to identify common
drivers. 3. We examined helminth diversity in over 350 species of lizards
in relation to their body mass, ecology (diet and habitat use), and life
history (clutch size, and ovo- or viviparity) using previously published
data. 4. Overall, lizard species with herbivorous diets harboured fewer
types of helminths (especially larval stages), with similar results for
traits that were ultimately strongly associated with diet (host mass and
habitat use). Large hosts tended to be herbivores with few helminth types
whereas species utilizing arboreal habitats typically consumed some animal
matter and hosted more helminths. 5. Understanding how host ecology and
life history are related to their parasite assemblages has significant
implications for the risk of acquiring novel parasites. Our results
indicate an overwhelming influence of host diet such that many helminths
may be relatively easily acquired by hosts in new ranges, or through
dietary shifts.