Data from: Habitat fragmentation and the prevalence of parasites (Diptera, Streblidae) on three Phyllostomid bat species

Ectoparasitism in bats seems to be influenced strongly by the type of roost preferred by the hosts, and group size; however, the effect of habitat loss and fragmentation on the prevalence of ectoparasites in bats has scarcely been studied. In northeastern Yucatan, Mexico, we estimated the prevalence of infestation by Streblidae flies in three phyllostomid bat species with different roost preferences (caves, trees or both) in two types of landscape matrices (tropical semi-deciduous forest and man-made pastures) that differed in area of forest cover and the number of forest fragments. Habitat fragmentation and the presence of a contrasting matrix may limit the availability of roosts (trees) and the movement of bats across the landscape. Accordingly, we hypothesized higher prevalence of Streblidae infestation in the pasture matrix and in the group of bats that roost in trees. Bat abundance was higher in the pasture matrix; however, the prevalence of infestation was significantly higher in the continuous forest matrix and in bats that roosted in caves. The prevalence of some species of Streblidae was affected by habitat fragmentation in species that roost in caves, such as Desmodus rotundus, as well as those using foliage and caves, such as Artibeus jamaicensis. Our results provide evidence that some species of Streblidae may respond differently to habitat fragmentation than their hosts, generating changes to bat-ectoparasite interactions in fragmented areas. Environmental variations involving roosts, not evaluated in this study, may influence our results, since these factors affect ectoparasite abundance and reproduction.

蝙蝠的体外寄生（ectoparasitism）现象似乎强烈受宿主偏好的栖息类型以及集群大小所影响；然而，栖息地丧失与片段化对蝙蝠体外寄生虫感染率的影响却鲜有研究。在墨西哥尤卡坦半岛东北部，我们针对两种景观基质（热带半落叶林与人工牧场，二者的森林覆盖面积与森林片段数量存在差异），对3种具有不同栖息偏好（洞穴、树木或二者兼具）的叶口蝠科（phyllostomid）蝙蝠的蝠蝇科（Streblidae）蝇类感染率进行了评估。栖息地片段化与异质基质的存在，可能会限制栖息场所（树木）的可获得性，以及蝙蝠在景观中的移动能力。据此我们提出假设：在人工牧场基质中，以及栖息于树木的蝙蝠类群中，蝠蝇科的感染率会更高。尽管人工牧场基质中的蝙蝠丰度更高，但连续森林基质中以及栖息于洞穴的蝙蝠，其感染率却显著更高。部分蝠蝇科物种的感染率会因栖息地片段化而受到影响，这在栖息于洞穴的物种（如普通吸血蝠（Desmodus rotundus））以及同时利用树叶与洞穴的物种（如牙买加果蝠（Artibeus jamaicensis））中均有体现。本研究结果表明，部分蝠蝇科物种对栖息地片段化的响应可能与其宿主存在差异，进而改变片段化区域内蝙蝠与体外寄生虫的互作关系。本研究未评估栖息相关的环境变异，而此类因素会影响体外寄生虫的丰度与繁殖，因此可能会对本研究结果产生影响。