Individual variation underlies large-scale patterns: Host conditions and behavior affect parasitism.

ABSTRACT: Identifying the factors that affect host-parasite interactions is essential for understanding the ecology and dynamics of vector-borne diseases and may be an important component of predicting human disease risk. Characteristics of hosts themselves (e.g., body condition, host behavior, immune defenses) may affect the likelihood of parasitism. However, despite highly variable rates of parasitism and infection in wild populations, identifying widespread links between individual characteristics and heterogeneity in parasite acquisition has proven challenging because many zoonoses exist over wide geographic extents and exhibit both spatial and temporal heterogeneity in prevalence and individual and population-level effects. Using seven years of data collected by the National Ecological Observat

SUBMITTER: Brehm AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11739666 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature