Parasitological studies in stray dogs and wild generalist carnivores in Iguazu National Park, Foz do Iguaçú

• Grant number: 14/08180-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2014
• End date: February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Estevam Guilherme Lux Hoppe
• Grantee: Marcela Figuerêdo Duarte Moraes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Carnivores have vital importance to the integrity and stability of their ecosystems, specially because they act controlling the population of species in lower levels of the trophic chain. However, wild populations are regulated by parasites and this relationship may influence all the natural community. The Iguazu National Park is the last refuge in South Brazil to several rare and threatened species. Coatis (Nasua nasua) and crab-eating foxes (Cerdocyon thous), two common generalist and opportunistic carnivore species, are widely distributed in the park. As generalist species, they can benefit from anthropic influence, making them closer to human populations and, therefore, vulnerable to domestic animals pathogens. This way, this research aims to describe parasitic helminths of crab-eating foxes and coatis and free-roaming dogs, around and inside Iguazu Park, evaluate changes in host sanitary status and the ecological context. For this, free-ranging carnivores will be captured and chemically constrained form collection of biological samples. Blood and biochemistry tests, presence of blood microfilariae and fecal examinations will be done in all samples. Adult helminths will be obtained from necropsy of road-killed animals from on Iguazu Park. This study will describe the helminthic diversity of coatis and crab-eating foxes, and evaluate the pathogen spillover and spillback between wild carnivores and stray dogs in Iguazu National Park, seeking to evaluate aspects of the host-parasite relationship, and the influence of edge effects on these parasites. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MORAES, M. F. D.; DA SILVA, M. X.; TEBALDI, J. H.; HOPPE, E. G. LUX. Parasitological assessment of wild ring-tailed coatis (Nasua nasua) from the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY-PARASITES AND WILDLIFE, v. 9, p. 154-158, AUG 2019. (14/08180-0, 16/14886-9, 16/15589-8)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MORAES, Marcela Figuerêdo Duarte. Parasitological studies in stray dogs and wild generalist carnivores in Iguaçu National Park, Foz do Iguaçu. 2016. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias. Jaboticabal Jaboticabal.