title: Birds are islands for parasites.
abstract: Understanding the mechanisms driving the extraordinary diversification of parasites is a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Co-speciation, one proposed mechanism that could contribute to this diversity is hypothesized to result from allopatric co-divergence of host-parasite populations. We found that island populations of the Galápagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) and a parasitic feather louse species (Degeeriella regalis) exhibit patterns of co-divergence across variable temporal and spatial scales. Hawks and lice showed nearly identical population genetic structure across the Galápagos Islands. Hawk population genetic structure is explained by isolation by distance among islands. Louse population structure is best explained by hawk population structure, rather than isolation by distance per se, suggesting that lice tightly track the recent population histories of their hosts. Among hawk individuals, louse populations were also highly structured, suggesting that hosts serve as islands for parasites from an evolutionary perspective. Altogether, we found that host and parasite populations may have responded in the same manner to geographical isolation across spatial scales. Allopatric co-divergence is likely one important mechanism driving the diversification of parasites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer A H
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Koop
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri-St Louis, St Louis, MO 63121, USA.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: DeMatteo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri-St Louis, St Louis, MO 63121, USA WildCare Institute, Saint Louis Zoo, St Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA whiteman@email.arizona.edu.
authors.forename: Noah K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Whiteman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004484:Ecuador; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005843:Geography; D046428:Hawks / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology*; D062312:Islands; D010373:Lice Infestations; D008003:Phthiraptera / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: co-divergence; co-speciation; coevolution; population genetic structure
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