Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis)
Invasive species have been cited as major causes of population extinctions in several animal and plant classes worldwide. The North American grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) has a major detrimental effect on native red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) populations across Britain and Ireland, in part b...
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Public Library of Science
2014
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885396/ |
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pubmed-38853962014-01-10 Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) McGowan, Natasha E. Marks, Nikki J. McInnes, Colin J. Deane, David Maule, Aaron G. Scantlebury, Michael Research Article Invasive species have been cited as major causes of population extinctions in several animal and plant classes worldwide. The North American grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) has a major detrimental effect on native red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) populations across Britain and Ireland, in part because it can be a reservoir host for the deadly squirrelpox virus (SQPV). Whilst various researchers have investigated the epizootiology of SQPV disease in grey squirrels and have modelled the consequent effects on red squirrel populations, less work has examined morphological and physiological characteristics that might make individual grey squirrels more susceptible to contracting SQPV. The current study investigated the putative relationships between morphology, parasitism, and SQPV exposure in grey squirrels. We found geographical, sex, and morphological differences in SQPV seroprevalence. In particular, larger animals, those with wide zygomatic arch widths (ZAW), males with large testes, and individuals with concurrent nematode and/or coccidial infections had an increased seroprevalence of SQPV. In addition, males with larger spleens, particularly those with narrow ZAW, were more likely to be exposed to SQPV. Overall these results show that there is variation in SQPV seroprevalence in grey squirrels and that, consequently, certain individual, or populations of, grey squirrels might be more responsible for transmitting SQPV to native red squirrel populations. Public Library of Science 2014-01-08 /pmc/articles/PMC3885396/ /pubmed/24416155 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083106 Text en © 2014 McGowan et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
McGowan, Natasha E. Marks, Nikki J. McInnes, Colin J. Deane, David Maule, Aaron G. Scantlebury, Michael |
| spellingShingle |
McGowan, Natasha E. Marks, Nikki J. McInnes, Colin J. Deane, David Maule, Aaron G. Scantlebury, Michael Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) |
| author_facet |
McGowan, Natasha E. Marks, Nikki J. McInnes, Colin J. Deane, David Maule, Aaron G. Scantlebury, Michael |
| author_sort |
McGowan, Natasha E. |
| title |
Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) |
| title_short |
Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) |
| title_full |
Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) |
| title_fullStr |
Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of Parasitism and Morphology on Squirrelpox Virus Seroprevalence in Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) |
| title_sort |
effects of parasitism and morphology on squirrelpox virus seroprevalence in grey squirrels (sciurus carolinensis) |
| description |
Invasive species have been cited as major causes of population extinctions in several animal and plant classes worldwide. The North American grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) has a major detrimental effect on native red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) populations across Britain and Ireland, in part because it can be a reservoir host for the deadly squirrelpox virus (SQPV). Whilst various researchers have investigated the epizootiology of SQPV disease in grey squirrels and have modelled the consequent effects on red squirrel populations, less work has examined morphological and physiological characteristics that might make individual grey squirrels more susceptible to contracting SQPV. The current study investigated the putative relationships between morphology, parasitism, and SQPV exposure in grey squirrels. We found geographical, sex, and morphological differences in SQPV seroprevalence. In particular, larger animals, those with wide zygomatic arch widths (ZAW), males with large testes, and individuals with concurrent nematode and/or coccidial infections had an increased seroprevalence of SQPV. In addition, males with larger spleens, particularly those with narrow ZAW, were more likely to be exposed to SQPV. Overall these results show that there is variation in SQPV seroprevalence in grey squirrels and that, consequently, certain individual, or populations of, grey squirrels might be more responsible for transmitting SQPV to native red squirrel populations. |
| publisher |
Public Library of Science |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885396/ |
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1612045722304118784 |