Parasite community structure
Research questions
1) What are the ecological factors determining the changes in parasite composition over space and time?
2) To what extent is the structure of bacterial communities in arthropod vectors similar to that in the blood of their vertebrate host?
Description
The identification of ecological factors that determine the structure of blood-associated parasites could have a marked impact on our ability to control vector-borne diseases. In multiple projects in the field and in the laboratory, we are exploring the effects of the environmental conditions, host-related, and parasite-related factors on the parasite, including pathogen, composition within a host, and in host populations and communities. The results draw light on the mechanisms that shape parasite communities over space and time and on the differences between micro- and macro-parasites.
Relevant publications
Hawlena, H., Z. Abramsky, and B.R. Krasnov. 2005. Age-biased parasitism and density-dependent distribution of fleas (Siphonaptera) on a desert rodent. Oecologia 146:200-208. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7720171
Krasnov, B.R., S. Morand, H. Hawlena, I.S. Khokhlova, G.I. Shenbrot. 2005. Sex-biased parasitism, seasonality and sexual size dimorphism in desert rodents. Oecologia 146:209-217. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7720170
Krasnov, B.R., S. Morand, I.S. Khokhlova, G.I. Shenbrot, and H. Hawlena. 2005. Abundance and distribution of fleas on desert rodents: linking Taylor’s power law to ecological specialization and epidemiology. Parasitology 131:825-837. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7432458
Krasnov, M. Stanko, I.S. Khokhlova, L. Mosansky, G.I. Shenbrot, H. Hawlena, and S. Morand. 2006. Aggregation and species coexistence in fleas parasitic on small mammals. Ecography 29:159-168. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.2005.0906-7590.04353.x
Krasnov, G.I. Shenbrot, I.S. Khokhlova, H. Hawlena, and A.A. Degen. 2008. Sex ratio in flea infrapopulations: number of fleas, host gender and host age do not have an effect. Parasitology, 135: 1133-1141. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23355010
Kiffner, C. M. Stanko, S. Morand, I.S. Khoklova, G. I. Shenbrot, A. Ladisoit, H. Leirs, H. Hawlena, and B. Krasnov. 2013. Sex-biased parasitism is not universal: evidence from rodent-flea associations from three biomes. Oecologia, 173:1009–1022. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236602902
Hawlena, H., E. Rynkiewicz, E. Toh, A. Alfred, L. A. Durden, M.W Hastriter, D. E. Nelson, R. Rong, D. Munro, Q. Dong, C. Fuqua, and K. Clay. 2013. The arthropod, but not the vertebrate host or its environment dictates bacterial community composition of fleas and ticks. ISME Journal, 7: 221-223. https://www.nature.com/articles/ismej201271.
Gutiérrez, R., D. Morick, C. Cohen, H. Hawlena. and S. Harrus.2014. The effect of ecological and temporal factors on the composition of Bartonella infection in rodents and their fleas. The ISME Journal 8:1598-1608. https://www.nature.com/articles/ismej201422
Kiffner, C., M. Stanko, S. Morand., I.S. Khokhlova, G.I. Shenbrot, A. Laudisoit, H. Leirs, H. Hawlena, and B.R. Krasnov. 2014. Variable effects of host characteristics on species richness of flea infracommunities in rodents from three continents. Parasitology Research 113:2777-2788. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262265220
Cohen, C., E. Toh, D. Munro, Q. Dong and H. Hawlena. 2015. Similarities and seasonal variations in bacterial communities from the blood of vertebrates and from their vectors. ISME journal 9(7):1662-1676. https://www.nature.com/articles/ismej2014255
Cohen, C., M. Einav, and H. Hawlena. 2015. Path analyses of cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggest that variability in natural communities of blood-associated parasites is derived from host characteristics and not interspecific interactions. Parasites & Vectors 8 art 429. https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-015-1029-5
