Host–parasite coevolution: Partitioning the effects of natural selection and environmental change using coupled Price equations

ABSTRACT: Abstract George Price showed how the effects of natural selection and environmental change could be mathematically partitioned. This partitioning may be especially useful for understanding host–parasite coevolution, where each species represents the environment for the other species. Here, we use coupled Price equations to study this kind of antagonistic coevolution. We made the common assumption that parasites must genetically match their host's genotype to avoid detection by the host's self/nonself recognition system, but we allowed for the possibility that non‐matching parasites have some fitness. Our results show how natural selection on one species results in environmental change for the other species. Numerical iterations of the model show that these environmental changes can periodi

SUBMITTER: Lively C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9339760 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature