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The impact of botfly parasitism on the health of the gracile mouse opossum (Gracilinanus agilis)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2019

Priscilla Lóra Zangrandi Open the ORCID record for Priscilla Lóra Zangrandi [Opens in a new window] ,
André Faria Mendonça Open the ORCID record for André Faria Mendonça [Opens in a new window] ,
Ariovaldo Pereira Cruz-Neto ,
Rudy Boonstra  and
Emerson M. Vieira Open the ORCID record for Emerson M. Vieira [Opens in a new window]
Priscilla Lóra Zangrandi
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecologia, Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal 70919-900, Brazil
André Faria Mendonça
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecologia, Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal 70919-900, Brazil
Ariovaldo Pereira Cruz-Neto
Affiliation:
Instituto de Biociências de Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Avenida 24A 1515 Bela Vista, 13506-900, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil
Rudy Boonstra
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Centre for the Neurobiology of Stress, University of Toronto Scarborough, MIC 1A4, Toronto, Canada
Emerson M. Vieira*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecologia, Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal 70919-900, Brazil
*
Author for correspondence: Emerson M. Vieira, E-mail: emvieira@unb.br
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Abstract

Fragmented habitats generally harbour small populations that are potentially more prone to local extinctions caused by biotic factors such as parasites. We evaluated the effects of botflies (Cuterebra apicalis) on naturally fragmented populations of the gracile mouse opossum (Gracilinanus agilis). We examined how sex, food supplementation experiment, season and daily climatic variables affected body condition and haemoglobin concentration in animals that were parasitized or not by botflies. Although parasitism did not affect body condition, haemoglobin concentrations were lower in parasitized animals. Among the non-parasitized individuals, haemoglobin concentration increased with the increase of maximum temperature and the decrease of relative humidity, a climatic pattern found at the peak of the dry season. However, among parasitized animals, the opposite relationship between haemoglobin concentration and relative humidity occurred, as a consequence of parasite-induced anaemia interacting with dehydration as an additional stressor. We conclude that it is critical to assess how climate affects animal health (through blood parameters) to understand the population consequences of parasitism on the survival of individuals and hence of small population viability.

Keywords

Body conditionclimatic variablesCuterebra apicaliscuterebridDidelphidaehaematologymyiasis
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 146 , Issue 8 , July 2019 , pp. 1013 - 1021
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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