NO SOLO LOS PRIMATES SON AFECTADOS POR LA PERTURBACION DEL HABITAT SINO TODAS SUS INTERACCIONES INCLUYENDO LA DINAMICA DE SUS PARASITOS.

Habitat disturbance disrupts the ecological interactions of mammals, leading to negative
consequences for biodiversity. In particular, it is suggested that parasite-host interactions are
affected in tropical ecosystems, with parasite diversity reduced as environmental perturbations
take place. In this study, we examined whether the disruption of tropical forests affects the
presence of parasites in a population of endangered black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra)
that inhabits a highly fragmented landscape in Balancán, Tabasco, Mexico. Our working
hypothesis was that increased forest perturbation would negatively affect the incidence of
parasitic infections (parasite presence and richness) in black howler monkeys. We conducted a
parasitological study and collected stool samples from 65 adult individuals living in 30 forest
fragments across a disturbance gradient. We recovered parasite eggs from stool samples
using flotation and sedimentation techniques. We selected fragment size and distance from
each forest fragment to the nearest village as measures of forest perturbation. We analyzed
the effects of forest perturbation on parasite presence and richness using generalized linear
models. Other driving factors such as seasonality, host density, and sex were also considered
in the models. Gastrointestinal parasite infection was positively related to distance between
forest fragments and the nearest human settlement (β = 0.55 ± SE 0.28, z = 2.0, P = 0.05). No
effects of fragment size or any other variable considered in the model on the presence of
parasite infection were observed. Parasite richness was not affected by any of the measures of
forest perturbation, nor by any other variables considered in the analysis. Our findings suggest
that an increase in forest perturbation may negatively affect the probability of parasite infection
in black howler monkeys, as individuals living in close proximity to human settlements showed
a lower presence of parasites. We proposed that the low parasite infection rates recorded in
this monkey population reflect synergistic effects associated with both the alteration of the
parasite-primate network, as well as the low resilience of parasites to thrive in a disrupted
ecosystem.

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