@misc{10481/84927,
year = {2023},
month = {3},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/84927},
abstract = {The richness and structure of symbiont assemblages are shaped by many factors acting at different
spatial and temporal scales. Among them, host phylogeny and geographic distance play essential
roles. To explore drivers of richness and structure of symbiont assemblages, feather mites and seabirds
are an attractive model due to their peculiar traits. Feather mites are permanent ectosymbionts and
considered highly host-specific with limited dispersal abilities. Seabirds harbour species-rich feather
mite communities and their colonial breeding provides opportunities for symbionts to exploit several
host species. To unravel the richness and test the influence of host phylogeny and geographic distance
on mite communities, we collected feather mites from 11 seabird species breeding across the Atlantic
Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Using morphological criteria, we identified 33 mite species, of which 17
were new or recently described species. Based on community similarity analyses, mite communities
were clearly structured by host genera, while the effect of geography within host genera or species
was weak and sometimes negligible. We found a weak but significant effect of geographic distance
on similarity patterns in mite communities for Cory’s shearwaters Calonectris borealis. Feather mite
specificity mainly occurred at the host-genus rather than at host-species level, suggesting that
previously inferred host species-specificity may have resulted from poorly sampling closely related
host species. Overall, our results show that host phylogeny plays a greater role than geography in
determining the composition and structure of mite assemblages and pinpoints the importance of
sampling mites from closely-related host species before describing mite specificity patterns.},
organization = {APIF postgraduate project from the University of Barcelona},
organization = {Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI-UEFISCDI},
organization = {project number PNIII-
P1-1.1-PD-2019-0611},
organization = {PNCDI III and by an Institutional Performance Project for Excellence Financing
in RDI},
organization = {Contract no. 2PFE/2021 for L.M.S. Financial support was also provided by REN2002-01164/GLO},
organization = {CGL2006-01315/BOS, CGL2009-11278/BOS and CGL2013-42585-P from the Spanish Government},
organization = {Fondos
FEDER and BIOCON04/099 from Fundación Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria},
publisher = {Springer Nature},
keywords = {Ecology},
keywords = {Zoology},
title = {Diversity and structure of feather mite communities on seabirds from the north–east Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-023-30858-8},
author = {Stefan, Laura M. and Gómez Díaz, Elena and Doña Reguera, Jorge},
}