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From endosymbionts to host communities: factors determining the reproductive success of arthropod vectors

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Abstract

Elucidating the factors determining reproductive success has challenged scientists since Darwin, but the exact pathways that shape the evolution of life history traits by connecting extrinsic (e.g., landscape structure) and intrinsic (e.g., female’s age and endosymbionts) factors and reproductive success have rarely been studied. Here we collected female fleas from wild rodents in plots differing in their densities and proportions of the most dominant rodent species. We then combined path analysis and model selection approaches to explore the network of effects, ranging from micro to macroscales, determining the reproductive success of these fleas. Our results suggest that female reproductive success is directly and positively associated with their infection by Mycoplasma bacteria and their own body mass, and with the rodent species size and total density. In addition, we found evidence for indirect effects of rodent sex and rodent community diversity on female reproductive success. These results highlight the importance of exploring interrelated factors across organization scales while studying the reproductive success of wild organisms, and they have implications for the control of vector-borne diseases.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Einav, Z. Sigal, E. Hyams, A. Novoplansky, M. Segoli, and A. Tsairi for valuable advice during this study. We are grateful to D.A. Apansakevich and N. Burdelova for the flea and tick taxonomic identifications. This study was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), Grant Number 1391/15 and by the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (CIG) number FP7-293713 to H.H. and by the United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation, grant number 2012063 to H.H. (PI), K. Clay, C. Fuqua and Q. Dong. M.G. was sponsored by The Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and the Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation (Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev). This is publication number 939 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology. The trapping and handling protocol was approved by the Ben-Gurion University Committee for the Ethical Care and Use of Animals in Experiments (permission # IL-14-03-2011) and by the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (permission # 2011/38146).

Author contribution statement

IM, HK, KC, CF, QD and HH conceived and designed the study. IM and HK performed the study. IM, MG, YG, and VC analyzed the data. IM, MG and HH wrote the manuscript; other authors provided editorial advice.

Data accessibility

Raw data and statistical scripts can be accessed via the public archive “Figshare.com”. Accession addresses are http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4818121 and http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4818136, respectively.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Irit Messika and Mario Garrido contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Irit Messika & Hadar Kedem

  2. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Mario Garrido & Hadas Hawlena

  3. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Victor China

  4. The Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, Israel

    Victor China

  5. Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Yoni Gavish

  6. Department of Public Health Sciences, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Qunfeng Dong

  7. Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Clay Fuqua & Keith Clay

Authors
  1. Irit Messika
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  2. Mario Garrido
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  3. Hadar Kedem
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  4. Victor China
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  5. Yoni Gavish
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  6. Qunfeng Dong
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  7. Clay Fuqua
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  8. Keith Clay
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  9. Hadas Hawlena
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hadas Hawlena.

Additional information

Communicated by George Heimpel.

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Messika, I., Garrido, M., Kedem, H. et al. From endosymbionts to host communities: factors determining the reproductive success of arthropod vectors. Oecologia 184, 859–871 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3906-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3906-4

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