%0 Journal Article %A NIE Xuheng %A CAO Yifan %A DU Shouyang %A HE Hui %A BIAN Jianghui %T Intestinal parasites prevalence in root voles (Microtus oeconomus) from field enclosures %D 2014 %R %J ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA %P 172-180 %V 34 %N 2 %X Parasitism is one of the factors that can regulate fluctuations of small rodent populations. Many biotic and abiotic factors can affect parasite infections. In this study,we examined the types and prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in root voles (Microtus oeconomus)from field enclosures,and analyzed the effects of the number of founders,sex,age and time on parasite infections. The results showed that intestinal parasites of the root voles are coccidia,cestode and nematodes; and coccidia is the key intestinal parasite;Eimeria wenrichi is a dominant species among the coccidia. We found a positive association between E. wenrichi prevalence and the number of founders;E. wenrichi prevalence significantly increased with time. In addition,E. wenrichi prevalence in juveniles in high density enclosures was higher than that in low density enclosures. E. ochrogasteri prevalence was higher in juveniles than in adults. However,sex-related susceptibility was not found for coccidian species. These results indicate that coccidian infection varied with time and depended on the density of root vole populations. Prenatal stress due to high density and density-dependent effects on the coccidian infection may have a coupling effect on coccidian prevalence to the root vole populations. %U http://www.mammal.cn/EN/abstract/article_2973.shtml