Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.

Symbiont occurrence is influenced by host occurrence and vice versa, which leads to correlations in host-symbiont distributions at multiple levels. Interactions between co-infecting symbionts within host individuals can cause correlations in the abundance of two symbiont species across individual ho...

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Main Authors: Maxwell B Joseph, William E Stutz, Pieter T J Johnson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5104364?pdf=render
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author Maxwell B Joseph
William E Stutz
Pieter T J Johnson
author_facet Maxwell B Joseph
William E Stutz
Pieter T J Johnson
author_sort Maxwell B Joseph
collection DOAJ
description Symbiont occurrence is influenced by host occurrence and vice versa, which leads to correlations in host-symbiont distributions at multiple levels. Interactions between co-infecting symbionts within host individuals can cause correlations in the abundance of two symbiont species across individual hosts. Similarly, interactions between symbiont transmission and host population dynamics can drive correlations between symbiont and host abundance across habitat patches. If ignored, these interactions can confound estimated responses of hosts and symbionts to other factors. Here, we present a general hierarchical modeling framework for distributions of hosts and symbionts, estimating correlations in host-symbiont distributions at the among-site, within-site, among-species, and among-individual levels. We present an empirical example from a multi-host multi-parasite system involving amphibians and their micro- and macroparasites. Amphibian hosts and their parasites were correlated at multiple levels of organization. Macroparasites often co-infected individual hosts, but rarely co-infected with the amphibian chytrid fungus. Such correlations may result from interactions among parasites and hosts, joint responses to environmental factors, or sampling bias. Joint host-symbiont models account for environmental constraints and species interactions while partitioning variance and dependence in abundance at multiple levels. This framework can be adapted to a wide variety of study systems and sampling designs.
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spelling doaj.art-e26df5bf84664795af2b57c795cb33862022-12-22T02:43:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-011111e016576810.1371/journal.pone.0165768Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.Maxwell B JosephWilliam E StutzPieter T J JohnsonSymbiont occurrence is influenced by host occurrence and vice versa, which leads to correlations in host-symbiont distributions at multiple levels. Interactions between co-infecting symbionts within host individuals can cause correlations in the abundance of two symbiont species across individual hosts. Similarly, interactions between symbiont transmission and host population dynamics can drive correlations between symbiont and host abundance across habitat patches. If ignored, these interactions can confound estimated responses of hosts and symbionts to other factors. Here, we present a general hierarchical modeling framework for distributions of hosts and symbionts, estimating correlations in host-symbiont distributions at the among-site, within-site, among-species, and among-individual levels. We present an empirical example from a multi-host multi-parasite system involving amphibians and their micro- and macroparasites. Amphibian hosts and their parasites were correlated at multiple levels of organization. Macroparasites often co-infected individual hosts, but rarely co-infected with the amphibian chytrid fungus. Such correlations may result from interactions among parasites and hosts, joint responses to environmental factors, or sampling bias. Joint host-symbiont models account for environmental constraints and species interactions while partitioning variance and dependence in abundance at multiple levels. This framework can be adapted to a wide variety of study systems and sampling designs.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5104364?pdf=render
spellingShingle Maxwell B Joseph
William E Stutz
Pieter T J Johnson
Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.
PLoS ONE
title Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.
title_full Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.
title_fullStr Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.
title_full_unstemmed Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.
title_short Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts.
title_sort multilevel models for the distribution of hosts and symbionts
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5104364?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT maxwellbjoseph multilevelmodelsforthedistributionofhostsandsymbionts
AT williamestutz multilevelmodelsforthedistributionofhostsandsymbionts
AT pietertjjohnson multilevelmodelsforthedistributionofhostsandsymbionts