No strong associations between temperature and the host-parasite interaction in wild stickleback.

ABSTRACT: As climate change progresses, thermal stress is expected to alter the way that host organisms respond to infections by pathogens and parasites, with consequences for the fitness and therefore population processes of both host and parasite. The authors used a correlational natural experiment to examine how temperature differences shape the impact of the cestode parasite Schistocephalus solidus on its host, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Previous laboratory work has found that high temperatures benefit S. solidus while being detrimental to the stickleback. The present study sought to emulate this design in the wild, repeatedly sampling naturally infected and uninfected fish at matched warmer and cooler locations in the Baltic Sea. In this wild study, the authors found

SUBMITTER: Granroth-Wilding HMV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9545309 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature