Does urbanization ameliorate the effect of endoparasite infection in kangaroo rats?

Urban development can fragment and degrade remnant habitat. Such habitat alterations can have profound impacts on wildlife, including effects on population density, parasite infection status, parasite prevalence, and body condition. We investigated the influence of urbanization on populations of Merriam’s kangaroo rat (Dipodomys merriami) and their parasites. We predicted that urban development would lead to reduced abundance, increased parasite prevalence in urban populations, increased probability of parasite infection for individual animals, and decreased body condition of kangaroo rats in urban versus wildland areas. We live trapped kangaroo rats at 5 urban and 5 wildland sites in and around Las Cruces, NM, USA from 2013-2015, collected fecal samples from 209 kangaroo rats, and detected endoparasites using fecal flotation and molecular barcoding. Seven parasite species were detected, although only two, parasitic worms Mastophorus dipodomis and Pterygodermatites dipodomis, occurred f...