Human Impact on the Composition of Small-Intestine Helminth Infracommunities in Canine Mesocarnivores, with a Special Focus on Echinococcus multilocularis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I think this is a great publication with a very thorough methods section which I like and even I learnt some new techniques. I think it is a very timely paper and also think understanding the parasites present in different hosts and different environments is very important, particularly investigating the relationship with human habitation. While it might not be novel, it is definitely important to do.

Abstract

Line 27- maybe better to reword sentence “Parasite infracommunities were more crowded in Echinococcus multilocularis infected foxes (p=0.02) and jackals (p=0.001)”

Materials and Methods

Line 112- Define infracommunity crowding, not just give the reference and equation

Results

Be careful, you start using the term intensity rather than abundance, make sure it is in the right context. Check each of these, first mentioned line 207. If you want to use intensity, define it in the methods with the other terms.

Line 216-217 - confusing wording, perhaps change to “The ICr value was significantly higher in both species infected with E. multilocularis.

Line 217- Table 4 is actually table 2. It’s already highlighted in the manuscript

Discussion

Line 242- Delete “In the background”, not required for the sentence

Line 260- ‘whereas’ is not the right word. Replace with “where”

Line 272-275- very confusing sentence with some of the terms used in the incorrect way eg ‘rather’ is in the wrong spot and the word ‘characterised’ is not the correct word.

Line 297- ‘whereas’ not the correct word, perhaps take out word altogether

Line 303- Delete word ‘yet’

Line 337- move the word ‘rather’ to after the word ‘settlements’

Line 353- remove word ‘yet’

Line 354, 356 and 357- E. multilocularis not italicized.

Line 418- remove word ‘rather’

References

Line 4762- remove the ‘>’

Comments on the Quality of English Language

‘Moreover’, ‘rather’ and ‘whereas’ is used in the discussion a few times and it isn’t always required and confuses the sentences because it is not always used in the right context.

Some of the sentences are convoluted and confusing. Many can be simplified.

Author Response

Comments 1: I think this is a great publication with a very thorough methods section which I like and even I learnt some new techniques. I think it is a very timely paper and also think understanding the parasites present in different hosts and different environments is very important, particularly investigating the relationship with human habitation. While it might not be novel, it is definitely important to do.

Response 1: Thank you for the supportive comment above and all the helpful critiques below.

# Abstract

Comments 2: Line 27- maybe better to reword sentence “Parasite infracommunities were more crowded in _Echinococcus multilocularis_ infected foxes (p=0.02) and jackals (p=0.001)”

Response 2: Thank you for the supporting note. We reworded the sentence according to the reviewer's suggestion.

# Materials and Methods

Comments 3: Line 112- Define infracommunity crowding, not just give the reference and equation

Response 3: We added an explanatory definition of 'infracommunity crowding index'.

# Results

Comments 4: Be careful, you start using the term intensity rather than abundance, make sure it is in the right context. Check each of these, first mentioned line 207. If you want to use intensity, define it in the methods with the other terms.

Response 4: Thank you for the helpful notice! We changed all 'intensity' to 'abundance', since we used 'abundance' in all calculations. 

Comments 5: Line 216-217 - confusing wording, perhaps change to “The ICr value was significantly higher in both species infected with _E. multilocularis_.

Response 5: Thank you for the supporting note. We reworded the sentence according to the reviewer's suggestion.

Comments 6: Line 217- Table 4 is actually table 2. It’s already highlighted in the manuscript

Response 6: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

# Discussion

Comments 7: Line 242- Delete “In the background”, not required for the sentence

Response 7: Thank you for the supporting note. We removed the redundant term.

Comments 8: Line 260- ‘whereas’ is not the right word. Replace with “where”

Response 8: Thank you for the supporting note. We corrected it.

Comments 9: Line 272-275- very confusing sentence with some of the terms used in the incorrect way eg ‘rather’ is in the wrong spot and the word ‘characterised’ is not the correct word.

Response 9: Thank you for the supporting note. We reworded the sentence according to the reviewer's suggestion.

Comments 10: Line 297- ‘whereas’ not the correct word, perhaps take out word altogether

Response 10: Thank you for the supporting note. We reworded the sentence according to the reviewer's suggestion.

Comments 11: Line 303- Delete word ‘yet’

Response 11: Thank you for the supporting note. We removed the redundant word.

Comments 12: Line 337- move the word ‘rather’ to after the word ‘settlements’

Response 12: Thank you for the supporting note. We reworded the sentence according to the reviewer's suggestion.

Comments 13: Line 353- remove word ‘yet’

Response 13: Thank you for the supporting note. We removed the redundant word.

Comments 14: Line 354, 356 and 357- E. multilocularis not italicized.

Response 14: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

Comments 15: Line 418- remove word ‘rather’

Response 15: Thank you for the supporting note. We removed the redundant word.

# References

Comments 16: Line 4762- remove the ‘>’

Response 16: Thank you for the notice! We removed the character.

 Comments 17: ‘Moreover’, ‘rather’ and ‘whereas’ is used in the discussion a few times and it isn’t always required and confuses the sentences because it is not always used in the right context.

Response 17: Thank you for the very detailed revision of the manuscript's text wording. We followed all your suggestions on grammar and revised the criticised sentences, as well as some additional ones. Unfortunately, one of the co-authors tends to overuse 'moreover', 'whereas', and 'therefore'. We reviewed the text from this viewpoint and attempted to remove all redundant and confusing coordinate clauses.

Comments 18: Some of the sentences are convoluted and confusing. Many can be simplified.

Response 18: Same as Response 17.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is an epidemiological study focusing on Echinococcus multilocularis in the two most abundant canine carnivore reservoirs in Europe under different human impact conditions. In turn, assess the adverse effects of the anthropogenic environment on the health of wild carnivores.

The discussion section is very detailed and is the strength of this article.

The main question is the family name, as a formal rank in biological taxonomy, is conventionally italicized in scientific writing. For example:

Line 62: “Ancylostomatidae” and “Toxocaridae” should be in italics

Table 1: “Ancylostomatidae” and “Toxocaridae” should be in italics

Line 219: “E. multilocularis” should be in italics

Besides that, the figure legend should be more detail.

Figure 1: The author should explain the meaning of the red and green dots.

Author Response

Comments 1: This is an epidemiological study focusing on Echinococcus multilocularis in the two most abundant canine carnivore reservoirs in Europe under different human impact conditions. In turn, assess the adverse effects of the anthropogenic environment on the health of wild carnivores.

The discussion section is very detailed and is the strength of this article.

Response 1: Thank you for your supporting note and your suggestions.

The main question is the family name, as a formal rank in biological taxonomy, is conventionally italicized in scientific writing. For example:

Comments 2: Line 62: “Ancylostomatidae” and “Toxocaridae” should be in italics

Response 2: Thank you for the notice. During the manuscript preparation, we followed the principle that genus and species names should be written in Italics. As we checked the latest article published in Parasitologia, it follows the same principle. Therefore, we would like to keep family names in their original form. 

Comments 3: Table 1: “Ancylostomatidae” and “Toxocaridae” should be in italics

Response 3: Same as response 2.

Comments 4: Line 219: “E. multilocularis” should be in italics

Response 4: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

Comments 5:  Besides that, the figure legend should be more detail.

Response 5: Thank you for the helpful note! We added more detailed explanations to the legend.

Comments 6: Figure 1: The author should explain the meaning of the red and green dots.

Response 6: Thank you for the notice! We added the meaning of colours to the legend.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a well-written and valuable research article. 

I have a few suggestions, which are marked in the manuscript.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

# Title

Comments 1: I would replace "Small Intestinal" with "Small-intestine" in order to avoid the confusion what is small - intestines, helminths or infracommunities.

Response 1: Thank you for the helpful suggestion! We reworded the title in accordance with the reviewer's recommendation.

Comments 2: Insert a comma after 'Mesocarnivores'

Response 2: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

# Introduction

Comments 3: Line 39 Delete 'frequently'

Response 3: Thank you for the suggestion. We accepted it.

Comments 4: Line 41 Insert a comma before 'which'

Response 4: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

Comments 5: Line 56 Use Italics for 'Echinococcus multilocularis'

Response 5: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

# Results

Comments 6: Lines 217 & 219 Misuse of 'Table 4'

Response 6: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

Comments 7: Line 219 Use Italics for 'E. multilocularis'

Response 7: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

# Discussion

Comments 8: Lines 235 & 239 Use the plural form of 'helminthosis' ('helminthoses')

Response 8: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.

Comments 9: Lines 288-289 This sentence is not clear. Please rephrase it.  
Maybe: The parasites of the family Ancylostomatidae exhibit high levels of adaptations for successful transmission and survival in the host.  
Is it what you want to say?

Response 9: Thank you for your helpful suggestion. We reworded the sentence according to the reviewer's recommendation.

Comments 10: Line 356 Use Italics for 'E. multilocularis'

Response 10: Thank you for the notice! We corrected it.