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Relative distribution of flies, body lice and wing lice on abdominal versus flight feathers (wings and tail) of donor birds in the experimental sheds; see Table 1 for data.
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Reciprocal selective effects between coevolving species are often influenced by interactions with the broader ecological community. Community-level interactions may also influence macroevolutionary patterns of coevolution, such as cospeciation, but this hypothesis has received little attention. We studied two groups of ecologically similar feather...
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... differences in prevalence and abundance of wing versus body lice on doves were not artifacts of larger populations of wing lice on donor pigeons. Indeed, the number of body lice per donor bird was greater than the number of wing lice per donor in the experimental sheds (Table 1) (t = 2.4, df = 118, P = 0.02). Nor was the larger number of wing versus body lice an artifact of flies preferring the same body regions on the host as wing lice. Flies showed a preference for regions actually preferred by body lice (Fig. 4). Most body lice were observed on abdominal feathers, and most wing lice were observed on flight feathers (Table 1) (χ 2 test, P < 0.0001). Like body lice, most flies were observed on abdominal feathers (Table 1) (χ 2 test, P < ...
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While parasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) have historically been an important model taxon for understanding host-parasite coevolution, very few molecular markers have been developed for phylogenetic analysis. The current markers are insufficient to resolve many of the deeper nodes in this group; therefore, sequences from additional genetic loci...
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... In addition, wing lice are known to engage in phoresis on hippoboscid flies to disperse between hosts [24,25]. Harbison & Clayton [36] described how wing lice (Columbicola columbae) use their third pair of legs to grasp the fly's leg and posited that their long limbs allow a wider stance, making phoretic dispersal possible. The high variance of leg length in our study confirms the likely importance of a larger proportional length of the second and third pair of legs in some species of wing lice (figure 5). ...
Organisms that have repeatedly evolved similar morphologies owing to the same selective pressures provide excellent cases in which to examine specific morphological changes and their relevance to the ecology and evolution of taxa. Hosts of permanent parasites act as an independent evolutionary experiment, as parasites on these hosts are thought to be undergoing similar selective pressures. Parasitic feather lice have repeatedly diversified into convergent ecomorphs in different microhabitats on their avian hosts. We quantified specific morphological characters to determine (i) which traits are associated with each ecomorph, (ii) the quantitative differences between these ecomorphs, and (iii) if there is evidence of displacement among co-occurring lice as might be expected under louse–louse competition on the host. We used nano-computed tomography scan data of 89 specimens, belonging to four repeatedly evolved ecomorphs, to examine their mandibular muscle volume, limb length and three-dimensional head shape data. Here, we find evidence that lice repeatedly evolve similar morphologies as a mechanism to escape host defences, but also diverge into different ecomorphs related to the way they escape these defences. Lice that co-occur with other genera on a host exhibit greater morphological divergence, indicating a potential role of competition in evolutionary divergence.
... Host-parasite systems provide an opportunity to hold many other factors constant when making comparisons across parasite species. Such ecological replicate systems have facilitated research on identifying factors influencing the evolutionary history of parasites, for example, the influence of dispersal capabilities on coevolutionary history (Clayton & Johnson, 2003;Harbison & Clayton, 2011). Thus, while it may not be possible to quantify all possible parameters that affect N e in these systems, it is reasonable to assume that they are generally similar across species in such systems. ...
The effective population size (Ne) of an organism is expected to be generally proportional to the total number of individuals in a population. In parasites, we might expect the effective population size to be proportional to host population size and host body size, because both are expected to increase the number of parasite individuals. However, among other factors, parasite populations are sometimes so extremely subdivided that high levels of inbreeding may distort these predicted relationships. Here, we used whole-ge-nome sequence data from dove parasites (71 feather louse species of the genus Columbicola) and phylogenetic comparative methods to study the relationship between parasite effective population size and host population size and body size. We found that parasite effective population size is largely explained by host body size but not host population size. These results suggest the potential local population size (infrapopulation or deme size) is more predictive of the long-term effective population size of parasites than is the total number of potential parasite infrapopulations (i.e., host individuals).
... In addition, wing lice are known to engage in phoresis on hippoboscid flies to disperse between hosts (21,22). Harbison and Clayton (23) described how wing lice (Columbicola columbae) use their third pair of legs to grasp the fly's leg and posited that their long limbs allow for a wider stance making phoretic dispersal possible (23). The high variance of leg length in our study confirms the likely importance of a larger proportional length of the second and third pair of legs in some species of wing lice (Fig. 2). ...
... For example, Columbicola columbae has a second and third pair of legs with a proportional value well above the average of the group (Fig. 2 and table S1). Body lice have not been found to use hippoboscid flies for phoresis (23). Some genera of head and generalist lice use phoresis (e.g., Sturnidoecus and Brueelia), but typically they attach to the fly with their mandibles rather than their legs (6). ...
Understanding how selective pressures drive morphological change is a central question in evolutionary biology. Feather lice have repeatedly diversified into convergent ecomorphs, based on how they escape from host defenses in different microhabitats. Here, we used nano-computed tomography scan data of 89 specimens of feather lice, belonging to four ecomorph groups to quantify variation of functional traits, including mandibular muscle volume, limb length, and three-dimensional head shape data in these tiny insects. The results suggest that the shape of the head, the proportional volume of the chewing muscles, and the length of the leg segments in feather lice are all strongly associated with specific host-habitats. Further, species that co-occur on hosts have increased rates of morphological evolution, suggesting competition for host space is one of the drivers of morphology. This supports previous work indicating that the phenotypic diversity of feather lice is the result of repeated convergence resulting from resource partitioning, microhabitat specialization, and selection pressures imposed by host defense.
... In general, the wing lice of doves are more capable of dispersal than body lice because wing lice make use of hitch-hiking (phoresis) on hippobosid flies and body lice do not [73]. Comparing patterns between the wing and body lice of small New World ground doves across the same host species revealed that body lice generally showed more codivergence with their hosts and more evidence of population structure than wing lice [35]. ...
Next-generation sequencing technologies are revolutionizing the fields of genomics, phylogenetics, and population genetics. These new genomic approaches have been extensively applied to a major group of parasites, the lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) of birds and mammals. Two louse genomes have been assembled and annotated to date, and these have opened up new resources for the study of louse biology. Whole genome sequencing has been used to assemble large phylogenomic datasets for lice, incorporating sequences of thousands of genes. These datasets have provided highly supported trees at all taxonomic levels, ranging from relationships among the major groups of lice to those among closely related species. Such approaches have also been applied at the population scale in lice, revealing patterns of population subdivision and inbreeding. Finally, whole genome sequence datasets can also be used for additional study beyond that of the louse nuclear genome, such as in the study of mitochondrial genome fragmentation or endosymbiont function.
... The factors affecting the communities of these feather symbionts and their interactions with hosts can vary depending on the host species, ecology, behaviour, body region they inhabit (Choe and Kim 1988, Johnson et al. 2012, Javurková et al. 2019) and the type of interactions between symbionts and hosts (e.g. mutualistic, commensal or parasitic) (Harbison and Clayton 2011, Bodawatta et al. 2020b. Thus, understanding the drivers of these interactions is important to untangle the spatial distribution and long and short-term stability of these symbioses. ...
Birds host a diversity of ectosymbionts including feather‐dwelling arthropods such as feather mites and lice that they have co‐evolved and speciated with. Among these ectosymbionts, feather mites have evolved more mutualistic to commensal associations with birds than other groups. However, our understanding of the biological and ecological drivers that shape the associations between avian hosts and feather mites in tropical communities is poor. Thus, to help fill this knowledge gap we investigated the factors that govern feather mite abundances at host community, host species and individual levels in bird communities from different elevations on the tropical island of New Guinea. We examined the effects of abiotic factors, such as temperature and precipitation, the influence of host species, feeding guilds, bill morphology, body region, body conditions and infections with haemosporidian blood parasites on feather mite abundance. We found that feather mites were very prevalent among New Guinean birds and that mite abundance was not significantly different between elevations. Bird species with curved bills experienced significantly lower number of mites compared to species with straight bills. Feather mite abundance was significantly higher on flight feathers than on the rest of the body and mite abundance was not strongly associated with the body condition of individuals in most host species, except for a significant negative relationships in three species. Moreover, we did not find an association between feather mite abundance and blood parasite infections, potentially indicating a non‐synergistic association of these two symbionts. Overall, our study demonstrates that tropical avian‐feather mite associations are driven by different biotic and abiotic factors at host community, species and individual levels, highlighting the importance of examining these associations at both broad and fine scales to thoroughly understand the evolution of these symbioses.
... Several studies have documented that ectoparasites negatively affect health, longevity, reproductive success, population dynamics and species interactions [3][4][5]. Nonetheless, interspecific interactions have also proven to be of importance in the evolution of the host and its parasites [6,7]. Additionally, there is evidence that both parasites and hosts have radiated and coevolved together [8,9] which can be evidenced by the significant congruence between the host and parasite phylogenetic trees [10]. ...
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Feather chewing lice are common and important ectoparasites of birds. Here we report for the first time the presence of the ectoparasite, Colpocephalum trichosum Harrison1916 (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae on the Andean condor Vultur gryphus Linnaeus, 1758 from the North high Andes of Ecuador in Pichincha province. A total of 20 louse specimens were collected and analyzed from one free-living female juvenile host. Additionally, high resolution photographs of the louse are included, and a discussion on the potential implications of ectoparasites on the conservation of this threatened bird species is presented. Finally, we propose that further studies on Andean Condor ectoparasites should be focused on the potential causes and effects of these interactions.
... Host switching by parasites can have far-reaching implications for the ecology and evolution of both parasites and their hosts (Harbison and Clayton, 2011;Brucker and Bordenstein, 2012;Brockhurst et al., 2014;Auld and Tinsley, 2015;Hoberg and Brooks, 2015), and directly impact several contemporary biological challenges, including emerging infectious disease (Morens and Fauci, 2013), biological invasions (Stricker et al., 2016) and conservation of biodiversity Lymbery et al., 2014). Despite this, little is known about the evolutionary patterns of host switching among eukaryotic symbionts of animals. ...
... At present, little is known regarding evolutionary patterns of host usage among eukaryotic parasites, commensals and mutualists. However, elucidating these patterns remains important to a wide range of fields, including prevention of emerging infectious disease, host-associated microbiome research, and wildlife conservation Harbison and Clayton, 2011;Brucker and Bordenstein, 2012;Morens and Fauci, 2013;Brockhurst et al., 2014;Lymbery et al., 2014;Auld and Tinsley, 2015;Hoberg and Brooks, 2015;Stricker et al., 2016). The application of macroscopic free-living ecological theory has been proposed (Agosta et al., 2010;Araujo et al., 2015;Nylin et al., 2018) as a solution to problems in our contemporary understanding of host switching and host specificity. ...
Parasites have the power to impose significant regulatory pressures on host populations, making evolutionary patterns of host switching by parasites salient to a range of contemporary ecological issues. However, relatively little is known about the colonization of new hosts by parasitic, commensal and mutualistic eukaryotes of metazoans. As ubiquitous symbionts of coelomate animals, Blastocystis spp. represent excellent candidate organisms for the study of evolutionary patterns of host switching by protists. Here, we apply a big-data phylogenetic approach using archival sequence data to assess the relative roles of several host-associated traits in shaping the evolutionary history of the Blastocystis species-complex within an ecological framework. Patterns of host usage were principally determined by geographic location and shared environments of hosts, suggesting that weight of exposure (i.e. propagule pressure) represents the primary force for colonization of new hosts within the Blastocystis species-complex. While Blastocystis lineages showed a propensity to recolonize the same host taxa, these taxa were often evolutionarily unrelated, suggesting that historical contingency and retention of previous adaptions by the parasite were more important to host switching than host phylogeny. Ultimately, our findings highlight the ability of ecological theory (i.e. ‘ecological fitting’) to explain host switching and host specificity within the Blastocystis species-complex.
... Within the feather lice, the biology of C. columbae ( Fig. 1) is better known than that of any other louse species, including details about its morphology, physiology, ecology, and behavior (Martin 1934;Stenram 1956;Rakshpal 1959;Nelson and Murray 1971;Eichler et al. 1972;Rudolph 1983;Clayton 1990Clayton , 1991Clayton and Tompkins 1995;Clayton et al. 1999Clayton et al. , 2003Clayton et al. 2008;Harbison and Clayton 2011). A unique feature of the C. columbae study system is that its host, the rock pigeon Columba livia, has been under artificial selection by pigeon breeders for millennia, resulting in dramatic phenotypic variation (Darwin 1868;Shapiro and Domyan 2013), similar to that seen across the 300+ other species of pigeons and doves (Gibbs et al. 2001). ...
The pigeon louse Columbicola columbae is a longstanding and important model for studies of ectoparasitism and host-parasite coevolution. However, a deeper understanding of its evolution and capacity for rapid adaptation is limited by a lack of genomic resources. Here, we present a high-quality draft assembly of the C. columbae genome, produced using a combination of Oxford Nanopore, Illumina, and Hi-C technologies. The final assembly is 208 Mb in length, with 12 chromosome-size scaffolds representing 98.1% of the assembly. For gene model prediction, we used a novel clustering method (wavy_choose) for Oxford Nanopore RNA-seq reads to feed into the MAKER annotation pipeline. High recovery of conserved single-copy orthologs (BUSCOs) suggests that our assembly and annotation are both highly complete and highly accurate. Consistent with the results of the only other assembled louse genome, Pediculus humanus, we find that C. columbae has a relatively low density of repetitive elements, the majority of which are DNA transposons. Also similar to P. humanus, we find a reduced number of genes encoding opsins, G protein-coupled receptors, odorant receptors, insulin signaling pathway components, and detoxification proteins in the C. columbae genome, relative to other insects. We propose that such losses might characterize the genomes of obligate, permanent ectoparasites with predictable habitats, limited foraging complexity, and simple dietary regimes. The sequencing and analysis for this genome were relatively low-cost, and took advantage of a new clustering technique for Oxford Nanopore RNAseq reads that will be useful to future genome projects.
... Within the feather lice, the biology of C. columbae ( Fig. 1) is better known than that of any other louse species, including details about its morphology, physiology, ecology, and behavior (Martin 1934;Stenram 1956;Rakshpal 1959;Nelson and Murray 1971;Rudolph 1983;Clayton 1990Clayton , 1991Clayton and Tompkins 1995;Clayton et al. 1999Clayton et al. , 2003Clayton et al. 2008;Harbison and Clayton 2011). A unique feature of the C. columbae study system is that its host, the rock pigeon Columba livia, has been under artificial selection by pigeon breeders for millennia, resulting in dramatic phenotypic variation (Darwin 1868;Shapiro and Domyan 2013), similar to that seen across the 300+ other species of pigeons and doves (Gibbs et al. 2001). ...
The pigeon louse Columbicola columbae is a longstanding and important model for studies of ectoparasitism and host-parasite coevolution. However, a deeper understanding of its evolution and capacity for rapid adaptation is limited by a lack of genomic resources. Here, we present a high-quality draft assembly of the C. columbae genome, produced using a combination of Oxford Nanopore, Illumina, and Hi-C technologies. The final assembly is 208 Mb in length, with 12 chromosome-size scaffolds representing 98.1% of the assembly. For gene model prediction, we used a novel clustering method ( wavy_choose ) for Oxford Nanopore RNA-seq reads to feed into the MAKER annotation pipeline. High recovery of conserved single-copy orthologs (BUSCOs) suggests that our assembly and annotation are both highly complete and highly accurate. Consistent with the results of the only other assembled louse genome, Pediculus humanus , we find that C. columbae has a relatively low density of repetitive elements, the majority of which are DNA transposons. Also similar to P. humanus , we find a reduced number of genes encoding opsins, G protein-coupled receptors, odorant receptors, insulin signaling pathway components, and detoxification proteins in the C. columbae genome, relative to other insects. We propose that such losses might characterize the genomes of obligate, permanent ectoparasites with predictable habitats, limited foraging complexity, and simple dietary regimes. The sequencing and analysis for this genome were relatively low-cost, and took advantage of a new clustering technique for Oxford Nanopore RNAseq reads that will be useful to future genome projects.
... For example, 33 species of lice have been documented to use winged hippoboscid flies as a dispersal mechanism, a phenomenon more broadly known as "phoresy" (Bartlow, Villa, Thompson, & Bush, 2016). Experimental, phylogenetic, and population genetic evidence strongly suggests the ability to use hippoboscid flies has a great effect on the evolutionary patterns between birds and lice DiBlasi et al., 2018;Harbison & Clayton, 2011;Harbison, Jacobsen, & Clayton, 2009;. Phoresy has not been recorded for any of the species of lice in this study, but phoresy has been documented in a species of Lagopoecus (L. ...
Understanding both sides of host–parasite relationships can provide more complete insights into host and parasite biology in natural systems. For example, phylogenetic and population genetic comparisons between a group of hosts and their closely associated parasites can reveal patterns of host dispersal, interspecies interactions, and population structure that might not be evident from host data alone. These comparisons are also useful for understanding factors that drive host–parasite coevolutionary patterns (e.g., codivergence or host switching) over different periods of time. However, few studies have compared the evolutionary histories between multiple groups of parasites from the same group of hosts at a regional geographic scale. Here, we used genomic data to compare phylogenomic and population genomic patterns of Alaska ptarmigan and grouse species (Aves: Tetraoninae) and two genera of their associated feather lice: Lagopoecus and Goniodes . We used whole‐genome sequencing to obtain hundreds of genes and thousands of single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the lice and double‐digest restriction‐associated DNA sequences to obtain SNPs from Alaska populations of two species of ptarmigan. We found that both genera of lice have some codivergence with their galliform hosts, but these relationships are primarily characterized by host switching and phylogenetic incongruence. Population structure was also uncorrelated between the hosts and lice. These patterns suggest that grouse, and ptarmigan in particular, share habitats and have likely had historical and ongoing dispersal within Alaska. However, the two genera of lice also have sufficient dissimilarities in the relationships with their hosts to suggest there are other factors, such as differences in louse dispersal ability, that shape the evolutionary patterns with their hosts.
