Do fungi look like macroparasites? Quantifying the patterns and mechanisms of aggregation for host-fungal parasite relationships.

ABSTRACT: Most hosts contain few parasites, whereas few hosts contain many. This pattern, known as aggregation, is well-documented in macroparasites where parasite intensity distribution among hosts affects host-parasite dynamics. Infection intensity also drives fungal disease dynamics, but we lack a basic understanding of host-fungal aggregation patterns, how they compare to macroparasites, and if they reflect biological processes. To address these gaps, we characterized aggregation of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in amphibian hosts. Utilizing the slope of Taylor's Power Law, we found Bd intensity distributions were more aggregated than macroparasites, conforming closely to lognormal distributions. We observed that Bd aggregation patterns are strongly correlated wi

SUBMITTER: Schrock SAR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11384020 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature