Data from: Birds in arid regions have depauperate louse communities: Climate change implications?

Environmental factors such as temperature and humidity influence the
distribution of free-living organisms. As climates change, the
distributions of these organisms change along with their associated
parasites, mutualists and commensals. Less studied, however, is the
possibility that environmental conditions may directly influence the
distribution of these symbionts even if the hosts are able to persist in
altered environments. Here, we investigate the diversity of parasitic lice
(Insecta: Phthiraptera) on birds in arid Utah compared to the humid
Bahamas. We quantified the parasite loads of 500 birds. We found that the
prevalence, abundance and richness of lice was considerably lower among
birds in Utah, compared to the Bahamas, despite sampling greater host
taxonomic richness in Utah. Our data suggest that as climates change,
birds in arid regions will have less diverse louse communities over time,
potentially relieving birds of some of the cost of controlling these
ectoparasites. Conversely, birds in more humid regions will see an
increase in louse diversity, which may require them to invest more time
and energy in anti-parasite defense. Additional research with other
ectoparasites of birds and mammals across different environmental
conditions is needed to more fully understand how climate change may
reshape parasite communities, and how these changes could influence their
hosts.