Comunidades de parásitos en roedores: una comparación entre octodóntidos y cricétidos

Abstract

Hosts that belong to the same family generate a parasite community structure which is differentiable from parasite assemblages that belong to another family in the same Order occurring simpatrically in several habitats. To test this hypothesis, were comparatively studied the helminthfaunas of both, Octodontid and Cricetid rodents, often found in central Chile. Differences among the magnitudes of the helminthfaunas of both families were found. The prevalence of parasited individual diversity and average number of parasite species by host were bigger in Octodontids. Th e average abundance of parasites per individual and the predictability of each infracommunity were not different between both families. Also, Octodontids have shown a positive and significative association between individual weight and the average parasite burden (r= 0.52; P menor que 0.001). The discriminant analysis for each family, using the helminth species as variables, was predictive for Octodontids only. Results allow to conclude that 1) in both families exist different communities of parasites and 2) both can be considered as isolationist communities.