Host population density as the major determinant of endoparasite species richness in floodplain fishes of the upper Parana River, Brazil

A comparative analysis of parasite species richness was performed across 53 species of fish from the floodplain of the upper Parana River, Brazil. Values of catch per unit effort, CPUE (number of individuals of a given fish species captured per 1000 m(2) of net during 24 h) were used as a rough measure of population density for each fish species in order to test its influence on endoparasite species richness. The effects of several other host traits (body size, social behaviour, reproductive behaviour, spawning type, trophic category, feeding habits, relative position in the food web, preference for certain habitats and whether the fish species are native or exotic) on metazoan endoparasite species richness were also evaluated. The CPUE was the sole significant predictor of parasite species richness, whether controlling for the confounding influences of host phylogeny and sampling effort or not. The results suggest that in the floodplain of the upper Parana River (with homogeneous physical characteristics and occurrence of many flood pulses), population density of different host species might be the major determinant of their parasite species richness.