Evaluating the tradeoffs of a generalist parasitoid fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, on different sympatric ant hosts.

ABSTRACT: It is essential for the survival and reproduction of parasitoids to adapt to the fluctuating host resources. Phenotypic plasticity may enable a parasitoid species to successfully achieve its control over a range of host species to maximize fitness in different hosts that may each require dissimilar, possibly conflicting, specific adaptations. However, there is limited information on how the fitness effects of host switching partition into costs due to the novelty of host species, where unfamiliarity with host physiological and morphological changes and its anti-parasite defenses reduces parasitoid growth, survivorship and/or reproductive success. In this study, the parasitoid fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato was found to sympatrically infect a principal host ant species and ot

SUBMITTER: Lin WJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7156370 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature