Abundance data applied to a novel model invertebrate host sheds new light on parasite community assembly in nature

Understanding how environmental drivers influence the assembly of parasite communities, in addition to how parasites may interact at an infracommunity level, are fundamental requirements for the study of parasite ecology. Knowledge of how parasite communities are assembled will help to predict the risk of parasitism for hosts, and model how parasite communities may change under variable conditions. However, studies frequently rely on presence-absence data and examine multiple host species or sites, metrics which may be too coarse to characterise nuanced within-host patterns.
We utilised a novel host system, the freshwater mussel Anodonta anatina, to investigate the drivers of community structure and explore parasite interactions. In addition, we aimed to highlight consistencies and inconsistencies between presence-absence and abundance data.
Our analysis incorporated 14 parasite taxa and 720 replicate infracommunities. Using redundancy analysis, a joint species distribution model...

阐明环境驱动因子如何影响寄生虫群落的组装过程，以及寄生虫在宿主体内亚群落（infracommunity）层面的相互作用模式，是寄生虫生态学研究的核心基础议题。明晰寄生虫群落的组装机制，有助于预测宿主的寄生虫感染风险，并可模拟可变环境条件下寄生虫群落的动态变化。然而，现有研究往往依赖存在-缺失数据（presence-absence data），并针对多种宿主物种或多个采样位点展开分析，这类指标可能过于粗略，无法精准刻画宿主内部细微的感染模式。
本研究以新型宿主模型系统——舟形无齿蚌（Anodonta anatina）为研究对象，探究寄生虫群落结构的驱动因子并解析寄生虫间的相互作用；此外，本研究旨在揭示存在-缺失数据与丰度数据之间的一致性与差异性。
本研究共纳入14个寄生虫类群与720个重复宿主体内亚群落样本。本研究采用冗余分析（redundancy analysis）、联合物种分布模型（joint species distribution model）……