ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2014
The effect of host social system on parasite population genetic structure: comparative population genetics of two ectoparasitic mites and their bat hosts.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hitchhiking Parasites: Unstructured Populations of Bat Ectoparasites Reveal Host-Driven Dispersal.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Host Co-Occurrence and Population Size Explain Genetic Differentiation and Diversity in Seal Lice.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Strong Bottlenecks Constrain Adaptive Coevolution in a Host-Parasite Metapopulation.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Host-Parasite Association Dynamics Influence Dispersal and Population Genetics of Little Brown Myotis (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Comparative genetic diversity and structure ofJournal of genetics · 2023Article
- Evolution and Ecology of Parasite Avoidance.Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics · 2022Article
- Sharing roosts but not ectoparasites: high host-specificity in bat flies and wing mites ofCurrent zoology · 2022Article
- Long-term field studies in bat research: importance for basic and applied research questions in animal behavior.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2022Review
- Co-structure analysis and genetic associations reveal insights into pinworms (Trypanoxyuris) and primates (Alouatta palliata) microevolutionary dynamics.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Bidirectional interactions between host social behaviour and parasites arise through ecological and evolutionary processes.Parasitology · 2021Article
- Bat parasites (Acari, Anoplura, Cestoda, Diptera, Hemiptera, Nematoda, Siphonaptera, Trematoda) in France (1762-2018): a literature review and contribution to a checklist.Parasite (Paris, France) · 2020Review
- Host conservation through their parasites: molecular surveillance of vector-borne microorganisms in bats using ectoparasitic bat flies.Parasite (Paris, France) · 2020Article
- Host specificity driving genetic structure and diversity in ectoparasite populations: Coevolutionary patterns inEcology and evolution · 2018Article
- Host social organization and mating system shape parasite transmission opportunities in three European bat species.Parasitology research · 2017Article
- Genetic interrelationships of North American populations of giant liver fluke Fascioloides magna.Parasites & vectors · 2015Article
- Differences in speciation progress in feather mites (Analgoidea) inhabiting the same host: the case of Zachvatkinia and Alloptes living on arctic and long-tailed skuas.Experimental & applied acarology · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe population genetic structure of a parasite, and consequently its ability to adapt to a given host, is strongly linked to its own life history as well as the life history of its host. While the effects of parasite life history on their population genetic structure have received some attention, the effect of host social system has remained largely unstudied. In this study, we investigated the population genetic structure of two closely related parasitic mite species (Spinturnix myoti and Spinturnix bechsteini) with very similar life histories. Their respective hosts, the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) and the Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) have social systems that differ in several substantial features, such as group size, mating system and dispersal patterns.
resultsWe found that the two mite species have strongly differing population genetic structures. In S. myoti we found high levels of genetic diversity and very little pairwise differentiation, whereas in S. bechsteini we observed much less diversity, strongly differentiated populations and strong temporal turnover. These differences are likely to be the result of the differences in genetic drift and dispersal opportunities afforded to the two parasites by the different social systems of their hosts.
conclusionsOur results suggest that host social system can strongly influence parasite population structure. As a result, the evolutionary potential of these two parasites with very similar life histories also differs, thereby affecting the risk and evolutionary pressure exerted by each parasite on its host.
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