The mission of the Symposium of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE) is to provide a university-wide forum for Central Washington University (CWU) students, encouraging equity, diversity, and inclusivity, representing all disciplines and experience levels, to present their mentored research, scholarship, and creative works in a juried environment that meets professional conference standards and expectations.
The 2022 SOURCE program is hybrid. Pre-recorded virtual talks are colored green and can be watched anytime. Live/in-person sessions with Zoom access can be found in the daily schedule. Thank you for joining us!
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Ecological factors such as feeding, and climate might influence intestinal parasite infection fluctuation in non-human primates. Here, we examined if high fruit consumption and climate (i.e., temperature and rainfall) lead to monthly variation in parasite infection in a frugivorous species of lemur, the black-and-white ruffed lemurs. To do this, we collected feeding data every 5 minutes, temperature, rainfall daily, and fecal samples from the black-and-white lemurs at the Mangevo site, Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar from February through May 2019. We used fecal floatation and sedimentation microscopic examination techniques to identify and count parasite species contained in our samples. Two nematodes and three protozoa species of parasites were recovered with Nematodes and Balantidium were the most frequently found in the observed individuals. The month of March differs from May in terms of fruit consumption, the number of species of parasites, nematode parasite worm and egg counts, minimum and maximum temperatures, and rainfall. Low nematode parasites worm and egg production are associated with high fruit consumption and high temperature. There was a trend for lower minimum temperatures to be associated with increases in the number of parasite species recovered. Temperature and fruit consumption played an important role in parasite infection, particularly nematode worm counts. Currently, we are extending our observation to a full-year period using the molecular method.
