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Measuring aggregation of parasites at different host population levels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

T. Boulinier ,
A. R. Ives  and
E. Danchin
T. Boulinier*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, C.N.R.S. – URA 258, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252 Paris, France
A. R. Ives
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
E. Danchin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, C.N.R.S. – URA 258, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252 Paris, France
*
* Corresponding author: National Biological Service, Patuxent Environmental Science Center, 11510 American Holly Drive, Laurel, Maryland 20708, USA.
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Summary

Parasites are generally found aggregated among hosts. In this paper we propose a method for measuring aggregation at different scales in the host population. We use the method to characterize the pattern of aggregation of the tick Ixodes uriae on chicks of its seabird host, the Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla. We found evidence of aggregation at the among-nest scale, but not among chicks within nests. This shows that the processes leading to aggregation occur at a higher scale than the nest. The methods we develop provide a way to compare parasite aggregation at different scales in a quantitative fashion and can be applied in a large number of epidemiological studies.

Keywords

aggregationectoparasiteheterogeneityhost-parasite interactionsIxodes uriaesamplingRissa tridactyla
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 112 , Issue 6 , June 1996 , pp. 581 - 587
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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