Data from: Habitat fragmentation alters the properties of a host-parasite network: rodents and their helminths in South-East Asia

1. While the effects of deforestation and habitat fragmentation on parasite prevalence or richness are well investigated, host-parasite networks are still understudied despite their importance in understanding the mechanisms of these major disturbances. Because fragmentation may negatively impact species occupancy, abundance and co-occurrence, we predict a link between spatiotemporal changes in habitat and the architecture of host-parasite networks. 2. For this we used an extensive data set on 16 rodent species and 29 helminth species from 7 localities of South-East Asia. We analysed the effects of rapid deforestation on connectance and modularity of helminth-parasite networks. We estimated both the degree of fragmentation and the rate of deforestation through the development of land uses and their changes through the last 20 to 30 years in order to take into account the dynamics of habitat fragmentation in our statistical analyses. 3. We found that rapid fragmentation does not affect helminth species richness per se but impacts host-parasite interactions as the rodent-helminth network becomes less connected and more modular. 4. Our results suggest that parasite sharing among host species may become more difficult to maintain with the increase of habitat disturbance.1. 尽管森林砍伐 (deforestation) 与生境破碎化 (habitat fragmentation) 对寄生虫感染率 (parasite prevalence) 或物种丰富度 (richness) 的影响已得到充分研究，但宿主-寄生虫网络 (host-parasite networks) 在理解这些重大干扰机制中的关键作用却未得到足够关注。鉴于生境破碎化可能对物种占据度、种群丰度及物种共现性产生负面影响，我们推测生境的时空变化与宿主-寄生虫网络的结构特征之间存在关联。 2. 为此，我们采用了来自东南亚7个采样点的大型数据集，涵盖16种啮齿类 (rodent) 与29种蠕虫类寄生虫 (helminth)。我们分析了快速森林砍伐对蠕虫-寄生虫网络连接度 (connectance) 与模块化程度 (modularity) 的影响。为在统计分析中纳入生境破碎化的动态过程，我们通过近20至30年的土地利用演变及其变迁情况，估算了研究区域的生境破碎化程度与森林砍伐速率。 3. 研究结果显示，快速生境破碎化本身并不会改变蠕虫类寄生虫的物种丰富度，但会显著影响宿主-寄生虫的相互作用：啮齿类-蠕虫网络的连接度降低，同时模块化程度升高。 4. 本研究结果表明，随着生境干扰程度加剧，宿主物种间的寄生虫共享现象可能更难维持。