RT Journal Article
T1 Different space preferences and within-host competition promote niche partitioning between symbiotic feather mite species
A1 Fernández González, Sofía
A1 Pérez Rodríguez, Antón David
A1 Hera Fernández, Iván de la
A1 Proctor, Heather C.
A1 Pérez Tris, Javier
AB Obligate symbionts (including parasites, commensals and mutualists) often share host species and host-based food resources. Such symbionts are frequently distributed unequally among hosts with different phenotypic features, or occupy different regions on a host. However, the processes leading to distinct within-host symbiont distributions remain obscure. We aimed to test whether distinct in-host symbiont distributions arise as the outcome of species-specific habitat preferences or interspecific competition, and how host phenotype influences such processes. To this end, we studied the distribution within and among individual bird hosts of two feather mites (Proctophyllodes sylviae and Trouessartia bifurcata) of migratory and sedentary European blackcaps, Sylvia atricapilla, wintering in sympatry. Trouessartia bifurcata was mostly restricted to resident blackcaps, while P. sylviae was abundant on both host types. Within hosts, each species tended to settle on different feather sectors (proximal or distal, respectively), which they filled by spreading on the wing following ordered but opposite patterns, thereby supporting the view that spatial segregation was primarily the outcome of dissimilar space preferences. However, we also found evidence of competition finely tuning mite distributions: when P. sylviae increased abundance and expanded onto the range of T. bifurcata, abundances of the two species were negatively correlated in the shared areas. In addition, the presence of T. bifurcata on a host was associated with a more restricted distribution of P. sylviae. Our results show that both species-specific preferences and interspecific interactions contribute to shaping mite distributions among and on individual hosts, a situation likely mirrored by other host-multi-symbiont systems.
PB Elsevier
SN 0020-7519, ESSN: 1879-0135
YR 2015
FD 2015-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23211
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23211
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
NO Junta de Andalucía
DS Docta Complutense
RD 11 abr 2025