Context-dependent parasite infection affects trophic niche in populations of sympatric stickleback species.

ABSTRACT: How parasites alter host feeding ecology remains elusive in natural populations. A powerful approach to investigate the link between infection and feeding ecology is quantifying unique and shared responses to parasite infection in related host species within a common environment. Here, 9 pairs of sympatric populations of the three-spined and nine-spined stickleback fishes were sampled across a range of freshwater and brackish habitats to investigate how parasites alter host feeding ecology: (i) biotic and abiotic determinants of parasite community composition, and (ii) to what extent parasite infection correlates with trophic niche specialization of the 2 species, using stable isotope analyses (δ15N and δ13C). It was determined that parasite community composition and host par

SUBMITTER: Thorburn DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10090597 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature