标题：Helminth community structure and diet of three Afrotropical anuran species: a test of the interactive-versus-isolationist parasite communities hypothesis
摘要：The interactive-versus-isolationist hypothesis predicts that parasite
communities should be depauperated and weakly structured by interspecific
competition in amphibians. A parasitological survey was carried out to test
this hypothesis using three anuran species from Nigeria, tropical Africa
(one Bufonidae; two Ranidae). High values of parasite infection parameters
were found in all three species, which were infected by nematodes, cestodes
and trematodes. Nonetheless, the parasite communities of the three anurans
were very depauperated in terms of number of species (4 to 6). Interspecific
competition was irrelevant in all species, as revealed by null models and
Monte Carlo permutations. Cluster analyses revealed that, in terms of
parasite community composition, the two Ranidae were similar, whereas the
Bufonidae was more different. However, when prevalence, intensity, and
abundance of parasites are combined into a multivariate analysis, each
anuran species was clearly spaced apart from the others, thus revealing
considerable species-specific differences in terms of their parasite
communities. All anurans were generalists and probably opportunistic in
terms of dietary habits, and showed no evidence of interspecific competition
for food. Overall, our data are widely consistent with expectations driven
from the interactive-versus-isolationist parasite communities hypothesis.
