Effect of Population Fragmentation on Host-Parasite Interactions: Insights from an Island Lizard

I assessed the effect of island characteristics and population isolation on the endemic insular lizard Podarcis erhardii and its native hemogregarine parasite Hepatozoon spp. I analyzed the relationships of prevalence, infection likelihood, and parasitemia to several factors at the island (time of isolation, area, distance to nearest larger land mass), population (host density), and organismal (load of hematophagous ectoparasites) levels. My results suggest that smaller islands, as well as islands that have been isolated for longer periods of time, show higher infection rates and higher parasitemia in hosts than others. I also found that distance between a focal island to the nearest larger land mass, as well as the load of hematophagous ectoparasites on an individual, were poor predictors of infection variables in P. erhardii. These results indicate that island area, host population density, and island age are likely to be significant drivers of changes in host-parasite interactions in fragmented populations.Master of Science (MS)Natural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136658/1/Fornberg_Johanna_Thesis.pd