Full Article View/Print PDF article (281K) Download to citation manager Order Permissions Alert me when this article is cited | Atom | RSS (What is RSS?) --- Journal of Evolutionary Biology Volume 14 Page 395 - May 2001 doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.2001.00290.x Volume 14 Issue 3 Host specificity of a generalist parasite: genetic evidence of sympatric host races in the seabird tick Ixodes uriae

• Published in: Journal of Evolutionary Biology
• Main Authors: Mccoy, Karen D., Boulinier, Thierry, Tirard, Claire, Michalakis, Yannis
• Other Authors: Fonctionnement et évolution des systèmes écologiques (FESE), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Génétique et évolution des maladies infectieuses (GEMI), Université Montpellier 1 (UM1)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2001
• Subjects: [coevolution]; [colonial seabirds]; [host specificity]; [host–parasite interactions]; [Ixodes]; [microsatellites]; [speciation]; [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology; fratercula; Fratercula arctica; rissa tridactyla
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00086598; https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1420-9101.2001.00290.x

Due to the close association between parasites and their hosts, many 'generalist' parasites have a high potential to become specialized on different host species. We investigated this hypothesis for a common ectoparasite of seabirds, the tick Ixodes uriae that is often found in mixed host sites. We examined patterns of neutral genetic variation between ticks collected from Black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) and Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) in sympatry. To control for a potential distance effect, values were compared to differences among ticks from the same host in nearby monospecific sites. As predicted, there was higher genetic differentiation between ticks from different sympatric host species than between ticks from nearby allopatric populations of the same host species. Patterns suggesting isolation by distance were found among tick populations of each host group, but no such patterns existed between tick populations of different hosts. Overall, results suggest that host-related selection pressures have led to the specialization of I. uriae and that host race formation may be an important diversifying mechanism in parasites.