Data from: Micro- and macroparasite species richness in birds: the role of host life history and ecology

1.Identifying the factors shaping variation in parasite diversity among
host species is crucial to understand wildlife diseases. Although micro‐
and macroparasites may exert different selective pressures on their hosts,
studies investigating the determinants of parasite species richness in
animals have rarely considered this divide. 2.Here, we investigated the
role of host life history and ecology in explaining the species richness
of helminths (macroparasites) and haemosporidians (microparasites) in
birds worldwide. We collated data from multiple global datasets on diverse
bird traits (longevity, body mass, coloniality, migration
distance/tendency, geographic range size and dietary and habitat breadths)
and the species richness of their helminth and haemosporidian parasites.
We tested predictors of helminth and haemosporidian parasite richness
using phylogenetic generalised linear mixed models in a Bayesian
framework. 3.We found that, after controlling for research effort and host
phylogeny, the richness of helminths, but not of haemosporidians,
increased with host longevity, range size, migration distance and dietary
breadth. Overall, these correlates were also important across different
helminth groups (acanthocephalans, cestodes, nematodes and trematodes),
and two additional ones (body mass, coloniality) emerged as important for
cestodes and acanthocephalans. 4.We propose that long lifespans may
promote the diversity of helminth parasite assemblages over evolutionary
time, thus resulting in richer helminth faunas. Similarly, longer‐distance
migrations, larger ranges and broader dietary breadths are likely to lead
to greater encounter rates and the accumulation of trophically‐transmitted
helminths. In contrast, vector‐borne haemosporidians may be influenced
more by factors related to vector ecology than by the host traits included
in the analyses. The lack of strong associations between haemosporidian
species richness and host characteristics emphasizes the need to find
appropriate traits to model the distribution and diversity of parasites
with different environmental preferences in order to anticipate disease
emergence risks associated with global change.