Simultaneous infection with multiple parasite species in an individual host is often observed in wild populations. The understanding of parasite species distribution across populations of wild animals is of basic and applied importance, because parasites can have pronounced effects on the dynamics of host population. Here, we quantified prevalence and endoparasite species richness in moose and explored sex-biased polyparasitism using diagnostic PCR method coupled with DNA sequencing of moose faecal samples from the Biebrza River valley, North-Eastern Poland. This is the largest moose population in Central Europe that has not been harvested for almost 20 years. We also evaluated the appropriate quantity of faeces for detecting DNA of parasite species. Faecal samples were screened for molecular markers of 10 different species of endoparasites. Endoparasite prevalence was high in the studied population. Almost all of the samples (98%) tested positive for at least one parasite species, and we found polyparasitism in the majority of the tested individuals. The number of different parasite species found in a single individual ranged from 0 to 9. The parasite species richness was significantly higher in male than in female individuals. The most prevalent were liver fluke Parafasciolopsis fasciolaemorpha and gastrointestinal nematodes Ostertargia sp. Of the ten endoparasite species detected, only the prevalence of the tapeworm Moniezia benedeni was significantly higher in males than in females. Additionally, we identified co-occurrence associations of parasite species, which tended to be random, but we noted some evidence of both positive and negative associations. Our findings promote applications of molecular methods for parasite species identification from non-invasively collected faecal samples in management and scientific study of moose population, which should include investigation of parasite status, and in health monitoring programs for other wild cervids.

在野生种群中经常观察到单个宿主同时感染多种寄生虫。了解寄生虫物种在野生动物种群中的分布具有基础和应用重要性，因为寄生虫会对宿主种群的动态产生显着影响。在这里，我们量化了驼鹿的患病率和体内寄生虫物种丰富度，并使用诊断性 PCR 方法结合对来自波兰东北部别布扎河流域的驼鹿粪便样本进行 DNA 测序，探索了性别偏倚的多寄生现象。这是中欧最大的驼鹿种群，但已近 20 年没有被捕猎。我们还评估了用于检测寄生虫物种 DNA 的粪便的适当数量。对粪便样本进行了 10 种不同体内寄生虫的分子标记物筛查。研究人群中体内寄生虫的患病率很高。几乎所有样本（98%）的至少一种寄生虫物种检测呈阳性，我们在大多数受检个体中发现了多寄生现象。单个个体体内发现的不同寄生虫种类数量为0至9种。男性个体的寄生虫种类丰富度显着高于女性个体。最常见的是肝吸虫Parafasciolopsis fasciolaemorpha和胃肠道线虫Ostertargia sp。在检测到的十种体内寄生虫中，只有贝内德尼绦虫的患病率在雄性中显着高于雌性。此外，我们还发现了寄生虫物种的共现关联，这些关联往往是随机的，但我们注意到一些积极和消极关联的证据。 我们的研究结果促进了分子方法从非侵入性收集的粪便样本中鉴定寄生虫物种在驼鹿种群管理和科学研究中的应用，其中应包括寄生虫状况的调查以及其他野生鹿科动物的健康监测计划。