Network specificity decreases community stability and competition among avian haemosporidian parasites and their hosts

Aim: Parasites play a fundamental role in shaping ecological communities and influencing trophic interactions. Understanding the factors that drive parasite impacts on community structure and stability (i.e., resilience to disturbances) is crucial for predicting disease dynamics and implementing effective conservation strategies. In this study, using avian malaria and malaria-like parasites as a model system, we investigated the relationship between specificity, community stability, and parasite vulnerability and their association with host diversity and climate.
Location: Global
Time period: 2009-2023
Major taxa studied: Avian malaria and malaria-like parasites.
Methods: By compiling occurrence data from a global avian haemosporidian parasite database (MalAvi), we constructed a comprehensive dataset encompassing 60 communities. We utilized a phylogenetic model approach to predict missing host-parasite interactions, enhancing the accuracy of our analyses. Network analyses based on bipar..., Data compilation       
In June 2023 we extracted haemosporidian occurrence data from MalAvi. MalAvi (http://130.235.244.92/Malavi/) is an online, freely available global database on avian haemosporidian parasites (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon) (Bensch et al., 2009). The database comprises >15,000 entries, each representing a recorded malaria infection in an individual bird, with information on parasite lineage identity, bird species identity, and geographical location. Each entry in our dataset consisted of an individual link of an identified malaria lineage in an identified host species from a given geographical locality. However, the absence of a parasite lineage from a particular host species may reflect inadequate sampling, rather than a true host-parasite incompatibility. 
Network analyses and specificity
All analyses were performed in the R environment version 4.3 (R Core Team, 2023). Each community was composed of all parasite lineages and host species occurri..., , # Network specificity decreases community stability and competition among avian haemosporidian parasites and their hosts

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgdf](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgdf)

## Description of the data and file structure

Our data represent parasite-host community metrics on bipartite network structure, taxonomic and functional host diversity and local climate conditions. Metadata describes briefly each variable and contain information on source and unit for all values.

## Sharing/Access information

This is a section for linking to other ways to access the data, and for linking to sources the data is derived from, if any.

Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data:

* MalAvi ([http://130.235.244.92/Malavi/)](http://130.235.244.92/Malavi/\))
* Open Traits datasets ([https://opentraits.org/datasets.html)](https://opentraits.org/datasets.html\))
* BirdLife International ([http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/requestdis)](http://datazone...