Wild rabbit host and some parasites show trophic-level relationships for delta 13C and delta 15N: a first report

We report the first isotopic study of an animal host-parasite system. Parasitic, intestinal nematodes, Graphidium strigosum and Passalurus ambiguus, were 15N-enriched relative to their host, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, while parasitic cestodes, Cittataenia denticulata and Mosgovoyia pectinata, were 15N-depleted, suggesting different trophic relationships. Host embryos were more similar in their delta 13C and delta 15N values to maternal muscle than were any of the parasites. Coprophagy, the direct recycling of food by the rabbit eating its own faeces, did not lead to isotopic differences between stomach contents and faeces, suggesting that the major point for isotopic discrimination in lagomorph nitrogen metabolism is in the animal rather than in the gut. We conclude that bulk delta 13C and delta 15N can reveal valuable new information about host-parasite relationships, and these could be explored further at the biochemical level using compound-specific isotopic analyses.