Parasite-mediated selection on host phenology.

ABSTRACT: The timing of seasonal activity, or phenology, is an adaptive trait that maximizes individual fitness by timing key life events to coincide with favorable abiotic factors and biotic interactions. Studies on the biotic interactions that determine optimal phenology have focused on temporal overlaps among positively-interacting species such as mutualisms. Less well understood is the extent that negative interactions such as parasitism impact the evolution of host phenology. Here, we present a mathematical model demonstrating the evolution of host phenological patterns in response to sterilizing parasites. Environments with parasites favor hosts with shortened activity periods or greater distributions in emergence timing, both of which reduce the temporal overlap between hosts and parasites an

SUBMITTER: MacDonald H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10199498 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature