The parasites of my rival are my friends

ABSTRACT: The competitive exclusion principle asserts that two species cannot stably coexist in the same habitat. However, the presence of a parasite can facilitate temporary coexistence between two host species occupying the same habitat. Studies of parasite-mediated interspecific competition typically use two host species that are both susceptible to a single parasite species, as it is rare to find a resistant host species that requires a parasite to enable coexistence with a competitively superior susceptible host. We therefore investigated how two host species characterized by different susceptibility profiles affect each other when they coexist in the same habitat, by conducting two long-term mesocosm experiments in the laboratory. We followed populations of Daphnia similis coexisting with Daph

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PROVIDER: S-EPMC10264602 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature