Donald A. Windsor
The biocartels of two host species, the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) and the European Starling (Sternus vulgaris), were compared and expressed in a membership matrix. Both bird species share similar habitats in North America. However, the starling is cosmopolitan and has more parasites. The biocartels were limited to symbionts that are parasites.
The robin had 106 parasite species and the starling had 171. Of the total of 277 parasite species, the robin had 38.3% and the starling had 61.7%. Forty parasite species were shared by both bird host species, so the distribution was 66 parasite species unique to the robin (27.8%), 40 parasite species shared (16.9%), and 131 parasite species unique to the starling (55.3%).
Membership matrices have two advantages. They can accommodate many biocartels for comparison and they can be treated mathematically.
The full article was published in the
Archives of the SciAesthetics Institute 2012 January; 12(12): 1-14.
A copy is available from Donald A. Windsor, PO Box 604, Norwich NY 13815 for the breakeven price of $3.00, which includes postage.
===============================================
