Detecting parasite associations within multi-species host and parasite communities.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the role of biotic interactions in shaping natural communities is a long-standing challenge in ecology. It is particularly pertinent to parasite communities sharing the same host communities and individuals, as the interactions among parasites-both competition and facilitation-may have far-reaching implications for parasite transmission and evolution. Aggregated parasite burdens may suggest that infected host individuals are either more prone to infection, or that infection by a parasite species facilitates another, leading to a positive parasite-parasite interaction. However, parasite species may also compete for host resources, leading to the prediction that parasite-parasite associations would be generally negative, especially when parasite species infect the same host tis

SUBMITTER: Dallas TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6790755 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature