Host species and age-specific variation on Hepatozoon prevalence and its effect on body condition in two Neotropical crocodiles
Data files
Jul 26, 2024 version files 19.94 KB
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Base_de_datos_cocodrilos_completa.xlsx
18.49 KB
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README.md
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Abstract
Many populations of species belonging to the order Crocodilia are threatened because of habitat loss and degradation, parasitic diseases, illegal trafficking, and indiscriminate hunting. Although several studies have revealed that crocodiles, caimans, and alligators are frequently infected by Hepatozoon species, the results from studies exploring the costs of these apicomplexan parasites on their reptilian hosts are still scarce and with inconclusive results. Here, we molecularly assessed the prevalence and genetic diversity of Hepatozoon spp. to explore the differences in body condition in captive individuals of two species of neotropical crocodilians with conservation threats, the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) and the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus). Fourteen percent of spectacled caimans were infected by Hepatozoon caimani, whereas no American crocodiles showed infection. The prevalence of Hepatozoon in spectacled alligators varied along age, where subadult individuals were the most frequently parasitized. Surprisingly, the body condition of infected individuals was significantly higher than the body condition of uninfected spectacled caimans, which suggests greater negative effects of the infection in individuals with poor quality. Also, the body condition of subadult individuals was significantly higher than the body condition of juveniles of both alligator species, likely reflecting differences in the occupancy of habitats with higher resource abundance or variations in the nutritional values of the diet between these age classes. These outcomes provide valuable information on disease ecology for developing conservation strategies and the management conservation of wildlife populations of these species.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pc866t1x5
Data showing Hepatozoon infection and body condition in two Neotropical crocodiles (Caiman crocodilus and Crocodylus acutus).
Description of the data and file structure
Data are structured as following:
ID: ID of the sampled individual
Year: year of sampling,
Species: crocodilian species
SPRECIES_CODE: species codification for each crocodilian species
Locality: Locality of sampling
Locality_Code: codification for locality of sampling. 1 = CREA, 2 = CHULLACHAQUI, 3 = SELVA VIVA, 4 = TUMBES
Body_mass: in grams, estimated with a digital scale (precision of ± 10 g),
Longitud: total length of individuals measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail using a measuring tape (accuracy ± 1mm),
SEXO: sex of sampled individual (1 = male, 2 = female)
Edad: age of sampled individuals. Codification 1 – 4: 1 = neonate , 2 = juvenile, 3 = subadult, 4 = adult. Codification 6 – 9 for C. acutus: 6 = juvenile I,7 = juvenile II,8 = subadult, 9 = adult.
INFECTION: Hepatozoon infection (0 = uninfected, 1 = infected)
LogLong: log transformed total length
LogMasa: log transformed body mass
Futon_K_bodycond: body condidtion (Fulton Index (K)) calculated following the formula: K = W/TL3 x 104.