Establishing a comprehensive host-parasite stable isotope database to unravel trophic relationships

Over the past decades, stable isotopes have been infrequently used to characterise host-parasite trophic relationships. This is because we have not yet identified consistent patterns in stable isotope values between parasites and their host tissues across species, which are crucial for understanding host-parasite dynamics. To address this, we initiated a worldwide collaboration to establish a unique database of stable isotope values of novel host-parasite pairs, effectively doubling the existing data in published literature. This database includes nitrogen, carbon, and sulphur stable isotope values. We present 3213 stable isotope data entries, representing 586 previously unpublished host-parasite pairs. Additionally, while existing literature was particularly limited in sulphur isotope values, we tripled information on this crucial element. By publishing unreported host-parasite pairs from previously unsampled areas of the world and using appropriate host tissues, our dataset stands unparalleled. We anticipate that end-users will utilise our database to uncover generalisable patterns, deepening our understanding of the complexities of parasite-host relationships and driving future research efforts in stable isotope parasitology.

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Publication Details

Journal
Scientific Data
Published
2025-04-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04970-5
Primary Topic
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Establishing a comprehensive host-parasite stable isotope database to unravel trophic relationships

Petra Quillfeldt, Antoine Filion, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, Mark Weston et al.
1 links
Scientific Data
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
article

Establishing a comprehensive host-parasite stable isotope database to unravel trophic relationships

Petra Quillfeldt, Antoine Filion, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, Mark Weston, Mónica Ayala-Díaz, Jessica Henkens, Andrew D. Suchomel, Laurent Dabouineau, R. García-Seoane, Josette Delgado, Jerusha Bennett, Anthony Sturbois, Luisa Giari, Amandine Sabadel, Tijs Joling, Philip M. Riekenberg, Mark C. Belk, Olaf Schmidt, Bahram Sayyaf Dezfuli, Lauren Meyer, Antonio Bode, Rona A. R. McGill, Lonneke L. IJsseldijk, Inés G. Viana, David W. Thieltges, Brittany Finucci, Sarah J. Bury, C. H. Roberts, Carl D. van der Lingen, Trevor J. Willis, Colin D. MacLeod, Cecile Reed, Ollie Kerr-Hislop, Eleonora Negro
article en

Abstract

Over the past decades, stable isotopes have been infrequently used to characterise host-parasite trophic relationships. This is because we have not yet identified consistent patterns in stable isotope values between parasites and their host tissues across species, which are crucial for understanding host-parasite dynamics. To address this, we initiated a worldwide collaboration to establish a unique database of stable isotope values of novel host-parasite pairs, effectively doubling the existing data in published literature. This database includes nitrogen, carbon, and sulphur stable isotope values. We present 3213 stable isotope data entries, representing 586 previously unpublished host-parasite pairs. Additionally, while existing literature was particularly limited in sulphur isotope values, we tripled information on this crucial element. By publishing unreported host-parasite pairs from previously unsampled areas of the world and using appropriate host tissues, our dataset stands unparalleled. We anticipate that end-users will utilise our database to uncover generalisable patterns, deepening our understanding of the complexities of parasite-host relationships and driving future research efforts in stable isotope parasitology.

Scientific DataVol. 12(1)
Brigham Young University (US), University College Dublin (IE), University of Wyoming (US), University of British Columbia (CA), University of Alberta (CA), University of Cape Town (ZA), University of Groningen (NL), Flinders University (AU), Utrecht University (NL), Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE), University of Ferrara (IT), Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (IT), Université catholique de l'ouest (FR), Auckland University of Technology (NZ), Instituto Español de Oceanografía (ES), Centre Hospitalier de Saint-Brieuc (FR), Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NL), Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (GB), Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (FR), Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NZ), University of Otago (NZ)
European Commission, Royal Society Te Apārangi, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Marsden Fund, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Openalex Percentile: Top 92%
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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