Parasitic nematode faunas in migratory and resident red deer
In Europe, grasslands comprise over a third of the agricultural area. They are used for grazing by livestock and winter fodder production, as well as inadvertently providing resources extensively used by wildlife such as red deer (Cervus elaphus). However, such extensive use of agricultural land and subsequent aggregation of deer can increase transmission of specialist parasites or spillover of generalist parasites through the sharing of habitat with livestock. We lack empirical data on how individual space use variation shapes infection patterns. Migratory deer use agricultural areas less than resident individuals, which can lead to a lower likelihood of infection (i.e., migratory escape). We here combine GPS-tracking data of 99 red deer with the use of DNA metabarcoding from faeces to characterizeing their nemabiome from faeces and determine the extent to which helminth parasite load is a function of their use of agricultural grasslands and migration.