抄録
Nematode parasites are an important cause of global morbidity in both wild and domestic animals, including humans, but determining thier associated health and fitness costs in wildlife is problematic because they typically produce chronic infections without clinical signs in hosts. Here, I describe a field-experimental paradigm designedto test directly whether intestinal parasites can constrain Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) health and fitness on the “natural laboratory” of Koshima islet, Miyazaki. Experimentation includes treatment of target female.macaques with common anthelmintics to remove intestinal nematodes. To date, treatment has been effcacious to some degree against three of four nematode parasites known to infect Koshima macaques (Streptopharagus,Strongyloides and Oesophagostomum but not Trichuris). Through continuous examination of macaque body mass, condition and reproductive output, in conjunction with investigation of behavioral, socioecological, endocrinological, immunological and environmental correlates of infection, I aim to determine risks of infection and reinfection at the individual host level and their likelihood to cause variation in health and fitness across.individual host macaques. This is the first field-experimental study investigating parasite transmission and its. associated fitness costs in a primate-parasite system, and aims to provide conservation and management strategies with empirical data to test predictive models of processes and outcomes of parasitic diseases in increasingly anthropogenically-disturbed environments.
