Relationship between host traits and intestinal nematode abundance in rodents of Vojvodine province, Serbia

• Main Authors: Čabrilo, Borislav, Tošić, Božana, Miljević, Milan, Budinski, Ivana, Rajičić, Marija, Bajić, Branka, Bjelić Čabrilo, Olivera, Blagojević, Jelena
• Other Authors: Velevski, Metodija
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: Skopje: Macedonian Ecological Society 2022
• Subjects: rodents; nematodes; Heligmosomoides polygyrus; spleen mass; body size; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: http://radar.ibiss.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/5192; https://radar.ibiss.bg.ac.rs/bitstream/id/11386/6-congress-ecologists-Macedonia-164.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_ibiss_5192

Endoparasites are organisms that live in a very specific type of habitat: the internal organs of their hosts. The effect of host characteristics on parasites and vice versa can thus be compared to the interplay between free-living organisms and their environment. Host-parasite interactions are astoundingly complex and many studies to this date have attempted to shed more light on them. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between selected host traits and intestinal nematode abundance. The intestinal tracts of 76 rodents of seven species (Apodemus agrarius, A. flavicollis, A. sylvaticus, Micromys minutus, Microtus arvalis, M. agrestis, Mus musculus) from 6 localities in the Vojvodina province of Serbia were searched for nematode parasites. Biometric parameters (body mass, body, tail, hindfoot and ear length) and spleen mass were measured for all hosts. The intestinal tract of the dissected rodents was cut open and its contents examined under stereomicroscope; nematodes were collected and stored in 70% alcohol prior to species identification. The most common nematode species in the host sample was the trichostrongyloid Heligmosomoides polygyrus. To test for possible cause-and-effect relationships, linear regression was carried out with spleen mass as the response variable and body mass, body, tail, hindfoot and ear length, number of H. polygyrus and total number of nematodes as predictor variables. A separate linear regression used H. polygyrus and total nematode abundance as response variables, and host body mass and length as predictor variables. Body mass (F = 21.259, p < 0.001), body length (F = 18.208, p < 0.001), tail length (F = 4.465, p = 0.038), ear length (F = 5.181, p = 0.026) and hindfoot length (F = 5.089, p = 0.027) all significantly and positively influenced spleen mass. Conversely, abundance of H. polygyrus and intestinal nematodes in general had no significant effect on spleen mass. However, body mass (F = 23.173, p < 0.001) and body length (F = 9.746, p = 0.003) of the ...