Parasite infections in a social carnivore: Evidence of their fitness consequences and factors modulating infection load.

ABSTRACT: There are substantial individual differences in parasite composition and infection load in wildlife populations. Few studies have investigated the factors shaping this heterogeneity in large wild mammals or the impact of parasite infections on Darwinian fitness, particularly in juveniles. A host's parasite composition and infection load can be shaped by factors that determine contact with infective parasite stages and those that determine the host's resistance to infection, such as abiotic and social environmental factors, and age. Host-parasite interactions and synergies between coinfecting parasites may also be important. We test predictions derived from these different processes to investigate factors shaping infection loads (fecal egg/oocyte load) of two energetically costly gastrointe

SUBMITTER: Ferreira SCM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6686355 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature