Some detailed examples at the community level - Nonequilibrium Ecology - page 122

Figure 8.2. Distribution of three species of congeneric monogeneans (Lamellodiscus
spp.) on the gills of Acanthopagrus australis off the coast of New SouthWales, Australia.
Note: one species (small dots) is very abundant and spread over all gills in all
microhabitats. The other two species are less abundant but share the microhabitat
with the other species. Reproductive segregation between the species is guaranteed
by differently shaped copulatory organs (see Figure 8.3 ) . From Roubal ( 1979 ),
reprinted with permission of CSIRO Publishing and the author.
otherwise empty gills, a particular parasite species is still found only in its
characteristic site (e.g., Rohde 1991 ,seeFigure 5.1 ). For example, two
species of monogeneans and one species of trematode are always found in
their particular microhabitat of Seriolella brama in New Zealand, determined
by their attachment organs, irrespective of whether other species are present
or not (pp. 29-31, Figures 2.1 - 2.3 ). Occasionally, microhabitat width may
expand somewhat in heavy infections, or it may change slightly due to
effects of other - possibly competing - parasite species, but often there is no
change whatsoever (e.g., Hayward et al. 1998 ). In some hosts, certain parasite
species use niches with little or no overlap, in others many species co-occur
in the same microhabitat. Comparison of niche overlap of congeneric and
non-congeneric monogeneans has shown that congeners tend to overlap
less. Congeners that differ in the shape and size of copulatory organs often