Data from: Interactions between micro- and macroparasites predict microparasite species richness across primates

Most wild animals face concurrent challenges by multiple infectious organisms, and immunological responses triggered by some parasites may increase susceptibility to other infectious agents. Immune-mediated interactions among parasites have been investigated among individuals in a population, but less is known about broader comparative patterns. We investigated the "macro-micro facilitation hypothesis" that higher helminth prevalence in a host species provides greater opportunities for intracellular parasites to invade, resulting in higher richness of intracellular microparasites. We obtained data on average helminth prevalence for 70 primate hosts, along with data on richness of intra- and extracellular infectious organisms. Using Bayesian phylogenetic methods, we found that primate species with higher overall helminth prevalence harbored more species of intracellular microparasites, while the positive association between helminth prevalence and extracellular microparasite species richness was weaker. The relationships held after controlling for potentially confounding variables, but associations were not found in focused tests of prevalence for six genera of well-studied helminths. The magnitude of support and effect sizes for overall helminth prevalence on intracellular microparasite species richness was similar to support for other well recognized ecological and life history drivers of parasite species richness. Our findings therefore suggest that intra-host parasite interactions are as important as some ecological characteristics of hosts in accounting for parasite richness across host species.多数野生动物会同时面临多种病原生物的侵染挑战，部分寄生虫引发的免疫应答反而会增强宿主对其他病原的易感性。学界已针对种群个体间的寄生虫免疫介导互作开展研究，但对更宏观的比较模式仍知之甚少。我们验证了「宏微促进假说」：宿主物种的蠕虫（helminth）感染率越高，胞内微寄生物（intracellular microparasite）的入侵机会就越多，进而导致胞内微寄生物的物种丰富度更高。我们收集了70种灵长类宿主的平均蠕虫感染率数据，同时获取了胞内与胞外病原生物的物种丰富度数据。采用贝叶斯系统发育分析方法，我们发现：整体蠕虫感染率更高的灵长类物种，其体内携带有更多种类的胞内微寄生物；而蠕虫感染率与胞外微寄生物（extracellular microparasite）物种丰富度之间的正向关联则较弱。在控制潜在混淆变量后，上述关联依然成立，但针对6个已被充分研究的蠕虫属的感染率进行专项检验时，并未发现此类关联。整体蠕虫感染率对胞内微寄生物物种丰富度的支持强度与效应量，与其他已被广泛认可的、影响寄生物物种丰富度的生态及生活史驱动因子的支持强度相当。因此，我们的研究结果表明：在解释不同宿主物种的寄生物物种丰富度差异时，宿主体内的寄生虫互作与宿主的部分生态特征同样重要。