Publication details
Untangling parasite epidemiology of mountain gorillas through historical samples: Strongylid nematodes are friends or foe?
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111319 |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111319 |
| Keywords | Island populations; Biobank; Wildlife disease; Primate; Helminth; Hyostrongylus; Metabarcoding |
| Description | Continued ecosystem changes create a dynamic ensemble of threats for wildlife species of conservation concern, including emergence of novel pathogens, a prominent risk amongst isolated populations with lowered resilience. Success in the conservation of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) is owed to intensive stewardship over the last three decades, with ongoing management required in the face of continued global change. Recently, increased clinical disease occurrence is reported amongst the only two extant mountain gorilla populations, with symptoms typical of strongylid nematode infections. Using historic biobanked faecal samples, we assessed changes in the strongylid nematode communities of both isolated mountain gorilla populations between two decades, employing high-throughput sequencing to describe their genetic diversity and explore their relevance to clinical case emergence. We applied ITS-2 metabarcoding within the Illumina MiSeq platform for strain-level identification. We uncover major temporal variability of strongylid communities in the region with the highest disease occurrence, revealing that dominance of pathogenic Hyostrongylus has emerged within this region within the last two decades. This coincides with considerable changes in gorilla social structure in this region since 2007, following continuous population growth but limited ability for spatial expansion. The recovery of mountain gorillas provides a valuable lesson to conservation science yet highlights how ongoing growth of any island populations requires vigilant management to ensure resilience. Emerging threats, such as novel diseases, must be carefully considered within these management plans, with biobanking and long-term monitoring a vital conservation tool for preventing biodiversity loss. |
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