Climate driven range divergence among host species affects range-wide patterns of parasitism

Abstract

Species interactions like parasitism influence the outcome of climate-driven shifts in species ranges. For some host species, parasitism can only occur in that part of its range that overlaps with a second host species. Thus, predicting future parasitism may depend on how the ranges of the two hosts change in relation to each other. In this study, we tested whether the climate driven species range shift of Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer) accounts for predicted changes in parasitism of two other species from the family Cervidae, Alces alces (moose) and Rangifer tarandus (caribou), in North America. We used MaxEnt models to predict the recent (2000) and future (2050) ranges (probabilities of occurrence) of the cervids and a parasite Parelaphostrongylus tenuis (brainworm) taking into account range shifts of the parasite’s intermediate gastropod hosts. Our models predicted that range overlap between A. alces/R. tarandus and P. tenuis will decrease between 2000 and 2050, an outcome that reflects decreased overlap between A. alces/R. tarandus and O. virginianus and not the parasites, themselves. Geographically, our models predicted increasing potential occurrence of P. tenuis where A. alces/R. tarandus are likely to decline, but minimal spatial overlap where A. alces/R. tarandus are likely to increase. Thus, parasitism may exacerbate climate-mediated southern contraction of A. alces and R. tarandus ranges but will have limited influence on northward range expansion. Our results suggest that the spatial dynamics of one host species may be the driving force behind future rates of parasitism for another host species.

Keywords

• Boreal
• Cervidae
• Climate change
• Evolution
• Parasitism
• Synergistic effects