New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Local variation in endoparasite infection of brushtail possums, Trichosurus vulpecula, along a forest margin transect, lower North Island, New Zealand

P. E. Cowan*

Landcare Research
Private Bag 11 052
Palmerston North, New Zealand
email: cowanp@landcareresearch.co.nz

D. D. Heath
M. Stankiewicz^†

AgResearch
Wallaceville Animal Research Centre
P.O. Box 40 063
Upper Hutt, New Zealand
^†Present address: Animal and Food Sciences Division, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand.
*Author for correspondence

Abstract  To assess fully the potential of parasites for biological control of Australian brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) introduced to New Zealand, factors affecting prevalence and intensity of infection need to be determined. The present study investigated local spatial variation in endoparasite infection in possums at sites along a 24 km forest margin transect, lower North Island, New Zealand, where most of the endoparasite species recorded from possums in New Zealand were present. Sampling sites varied little in the parasite species present in possums, or the prevalence and intensity of infection. Possum sex and age had much stronger effects on prevalence and intensity of infection than sampling site. Most site variation in prevalence and intensity of infection occurred among the Trichostrongylus spp., for which possums are not the primary hosts, presumably reflecting variation in contact between possums and the primary hosts.

Keywords  brushtail possum; Trichosurus vulpecula; endoparasites; distribution; variation; biological control

Z01025 Received 4 July 2001; accepted 12 January 2002
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2002, Vol. 29: 171-176
0301-4223/02/2902-0171 $7.00/0 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2002

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