Historical contingency in parasite community assembly: Community divergence results from early host exposure to symbionts and ecological drift.

ABSTRACT: Host individuals are commonly coinfected with multiple parasite species that may interact to shape within-host parasite community structure. In addition to within-host species interactions, parasite communities may also be structured by other processes like dispersal and ecological drift. The timing of dispersal (in particular, the temporal sequence in which parasite species infect a host individual) can alter within-host species interactions, setting the stage for historical contingency by priority effects, but how persistently such effects drive the trajectory of parasite community assembly is unclear, particularly under continued dispersal and ecological drift. We tested the role of species interactions under continued dispersal and ecological drift by simultaneously inoculating individ

SUBMITTER: Grunberg RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10187916 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature