| ngs metabarcoding proves successful for quantitative assessment of symbiont abundance: the case of feather mites on birds. | understanding the ecological function of species and the structure of communities is crucial in the study of ecological interactions among species. for this purpose, not only the occurrence of particular species but also their abundance in ecological communities is required. however, abundance quantification of species through morphological characters is often difficult or time/money consuming when dealing with elusive or small taxa. here we tested the use of next-generation sequencing (ngs) for ... | 2015 | 26139533 |
| high diversity and low genetic structure of feather mites associated with a phenotypically variable bird host. | obligate symbionts may be genetically structured among host individuals and among phenotypically distinct host populations. such processes may in turn determine within-host genetic diversity of symbionts, which is relevant for understanding symbiont population dynamics. we analysed the population genetic structure of two species of feather mites (proctophyllodes sylviae and trouessartia bifurcata) in migratory and resident blackcaps sylvia atricapilla that winter sympatrically. resident and migr ... | 2018 | 29338798 |
| different space preferences and within-host competition promote niche partitioning between symbiotic feather mite species. | obligate symbionts (including parasites, commensals and mutualists) often share host species and host-based food resources. such symbionts are frequently distributed unequally among hosts with different phenotypic features, or occupy different regions on a host. however, the processes leading to distinct within-host symbiont distributions remain obscure. we aimed to test whether distinct in-host symbiont distributions arise as the outcome of species-specific habitat preferences or interspecific ... | 2015 | 25980927 |