Helminths reveal long-term trophic simplification in owl communities
- 1Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Abstract
The helminth communities of owls may provide indirect information on host ecology and long-term changes in trophic interactions. We analysed 645 owl specimens from 10 host species, collected in Central Europe between 1963 and 2026, to test for temporal changes in overall infection probability, helminth abundance and richness, host-dependent trajectories and taxon-specific trends. In total, 22 helminth taxa were recorded, and 262 hosts (40.6%) were infected. The highest observed taxon richness occurred in Strix aluco (15 taxa) and Asio otus (10 taxa), which were also the most frequently sampled hosts. Analyses based on individual-host records showed significant long-term changes in community-level infection metrics and in several common helminth taxa. Cladotaenia globifera, Porrocaecum spirale and Strigea strigis declined over time, whereas Centrorhynchus aluconis increased. The marked decline of S. strigis, a parasite linked to amphibian-mediated transmission pathways, suggests a long-term weakening of these trophic links. Temporal patterns differed among hosts, and the dominant taxa varied markedly among owl species. Synanthropic species, particularly Tyto alba and Athene noctua, showed comparatively depauperate helminth assemblages, consistent with reduced exposure to diverse prey-mediated transmission pathways. These results indicate that long-term change in owl helminth communities is taxon- and host-specific rather than uniform. Owl helminths may therefore serve as informative indicators of changes in prey use and food-web structure in human-modified landscapes.
Related
- Hunting for Helminths: short- and long-read shotgun metagenomics for helminth detection in faecal samples
- Contrasting short‐ and long‐term direct and indirect interactions in Mediterranean oak savannah communities
- Sugarcane–peanut intercropping improves rhizosphere fungal communities and metabolites following long-term continuous peanut monoculture
- eDNA and microscopy reveal traits underlying long-term zooplankton community change
- Long-term effects of combined land-use and climate changes on local bird communities in mosaic agricultural landscapes
BibTeX
@article{sitko2026helminths,
title = {{Helminths reveal long-term trophic simplification in owl communities}},
author = {Jiljí Sitko and Petr Heneberg},
journal = {Parasitology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1017/s0031182026102698},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031182026102698},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Helminths reveal long-term trophic simplification in owl communities
AU - Jiljí Sitko
AU - Petr Heneberg
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/10
JO - Parasitology
DO - 10.1017/s0031182026102698
UR - https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031182026102698
AB - The helminth communities of owls may provide indirect information on host ecology and long-term changes in trophic interactions. We analysed 645 owl specimens from 10 host species, collected in Central Europe between 1963 and 2026, to test for temporal changes in overall infection probability, helminth abundance and richness, host-dependent trajectories and taxon-specific trends. In total, 22 helminth taxa were recorded, and 262 hosts (40.6%) were infected. The highest observed taxon richness occurred in Strix aluco (15 taxa) and Asio otus (10 taxa), which were also the most frequently sampled hosts. Analyses based on individual-host records showed significant long-term changes in community-level infection metrics and in several common helminth taxa. Cladotaenia globifera, Porrocaecum spirale and Strigea strigis declined over time, whereas Centrorhynchus aluconis increased. The marked decline of S. strigis, a parasite linked to amphibian-mediated transmission pathways, suggests a long-term weakening of these trophic links. Temporal patterns differed among hosts, and the dominant taxa varied markedly among owl species. Synanthropic species, particularly Tyto alba and Athene noctua, showed comparatively depauperate helminth assemblages, consistent with reduced exposure to diverse prey-mediated transmission pathways. These results indicate that long-term change in owl helminth communities is taxon- and host-specific rather than uniform. Owl helminths may therefore serve as informative indicators of changes in prey use and food-web structure in human-modified landscapes.
SN - 0031-1820
SN - 1469-8161
ER -