Within-population covariation between sexual reproduction and susceptibility to local parasites.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary biology has yet to reconcile the ubiquity of sex with its costs relative to asexual reproduction. Here, we test the hypothesis that coevolving parasites maintain sex in their hosts. Specifically, we examined the distributions of sexual reproduction and susceptibility to local parasites within a single population of freshwater snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). Susceptibility to local trematode parasites (Microphallus sp.) is a relative measure of the strength of coevolutionary selection in this system. Thus, if coevolving parasites maintain sex, sexual snails should be common where susceptibility is high. We tested this prediction in a mixed population of sexual and asexual snails by measuring the susceptibility of snails from multiple sites in a lake. Consistent with the pred

SUBMITTER: Gibson AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5014691 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature