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54 results for “parasite fitness”
Data from: Intra- and intersexual differences in parasite resistance and female fitness tolerance in a polymorphic insect
To understand host–parasite interactions, it is necessary to quantify variation and covariation in defence traits. We quantified parasite resistance and fitness tolerance of a polymorphic damselfly (Ischnura elegans), an insect with three discrete female colour morphs but with monomorphic males. We quantified sex and morph differences in parasite resistance (prevalence and intensity of water mite infections) and morph-specific fitness tolerance in the females in natural populations for over a decade. There was no evidence for higher parasite susceptibility in males as a cost of sexual selection, whereas differences in defence mechanisms between female morphs are consistent with correlational selection operating on combinations of parasite resistance and tolerance. We suggest that tolerance differences between female morphs interact with frequency-dependent sexual conflict, which maintains the polymorphism locally. Host–parasite interactions can therefore shape intra- and intersexual phenotypic divergence and interfere with sexual selection and sexual conflict.
Data from: The relationship between parasite fitness and host condition in an insect - virus system
Research in host-parasite evolutionary ecology has demonstrated that environmental variation plays a large role in mediating the outcome of parasite infection. For example, crowding or low food availability can reduce host condition and make them more vulnerable to parasite infection. This observation that poor-condition hosts often suffer more from parasite infection compared to healthy hosts has led to the assumption that parasite productivity is higher in poor-condition hosts. However, the ubiquity of this negative relationship between host condition and parasite fitness is unknown. Moreover, examining the effect of environmental variation on parasite fitness has been largely overlooked in the host-parasite literature. Here we investigate the relationship between parasite fitness and host condition by using a laboratory experiment with the cabbage looper Trichoplusia ni and its viral pathogen, AcMNPV, and by surveying published host-parasite literature. Our experiments demonstrated that virus productivity was positively correlated with host food availability and the literature survey revealed both positive and negative relationships between host condition and parasite fitness. Together these data demonstrate that contrary to previous assumptions, parasite fitness can be positively or negatively correlated with host fitness. We discuss the significance of these findings for host-parasite population biology.
Data from: Density-dependent fitness effects stabilize parasitic hitchhiking within a mutualism
1. Mutualisms are often subject to perturbations by parasitism arising from third-party interactions. How third-party perturbations are dampened is a fundamental question pertaining to mutualism stability. Phoretic organisms that turn parasitic within a mutualism may destabilise it. If the fitness cost of such phoresy is high, then density-dependent effects could be one mechanism to stabilize these interactions. 2. We experimentally examined the fitness effects of a phoretic nematode community on a brood-site pollination mutualism involving a pollinating fig wasp (the vehicle) and its associated fig species (the host for wasp and nematode development). 3. We comprehensively investigated fitness impacts of phoresy on wasp lifespan, lifetime reproductive success, dispersal ability and predation risk as well as on host brood-site volume and seed number. We employed a range of hitchhiker densities that encompassed natural and overloading levels for two nematode taxa (one plant- and one animal-parasitic type). 4. None of the plant host and vehicle fitness parameters were affected by wasps with low nematode transportation loads for either type of nematode. Furthermore, wasps arriving at their destinations carried lower densities of both animal- and plant-parasitic nematodes compared to dispersing wasps suggesting that there is selection on hitchhiker numbers during the dispersal process, and that wasps loaded with a greater density of nematodes do not successfully disperse. Overloaded wasps had shorter flight durations, suggesting limited dispersal ability; on arrival at their destination they suffered greater predation risk. Such overloaded wasps delivered impaired pollination services and produced fewer offspring resulting in lower lifetime fitness. Therefore, the direct and indirect effects of nematodes on their vehicles are strong. These effects also translated into impacts on host plant fitness, with the overloaded pollinators promoting the development of smaller brood-sites with fewer seeds, thus reducing fig tree reproductive success. The effects of the animal parasites were greater than that of the plant parasite in this study. 5. The third-party interaction is therefore self-limited and exhibits density dependence. The strong negative effects of overloading likely explain the low number of nematodes found in nature on dispersing and arriving fig wasps. Consequently, parasitic hitchhikers do not destabilise the mutualism.
Stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans L. (Diptera: Muscidae), improve offspring fitness by avoiding oviposition substrates with competitors or parasites
<p><span>Oviposition site selection by gravid female insects is an important determinant in species distribution, abundance, and population dynamics. Females may assess the suitability of a potential oviposition substrate by using cues from conspecific or heterospecific individuals already present. Here, we assessed whether the presence of conspecific or heterospecific larvae and parasites influenced oviposition decisions by the stable fly, <i>Stomoxys calcitrans</i> (Linneaus). Using dual and multiple-choice oviposition bioassays, we found that gravid female <i>S. calcitrans</i> avoided substrates with conspecific larvae, the larvae of house flies, <i>Musca domestica</i> (Linneaus), and the mite <i>Macrocheles muscaedomesticae</i> (Scopoli). Avoidance of conspecific and heterospecific larvae persisted in the dark, suggesting that this behaviour is mediated by chemical rather than visual cues. When we reared <i>S. calcitrans</i> in the presence of conspecific larvae and the larvae of house flies at different densities we found that this negatively affected emergence time, larval weight, larval survival, pupal weight, pupal survival, and adult weight. We also demonstrated that individuals of <i>S. calcitrans</i> developed in the presence of mites exhibited low egg hatchability, and poor larval and adult survival. Our study provides additional support for the "preference-performance" hypothesis in<i> S. calcitrans</i>, with gravid females preferring to lay eggs on a substrate that will enhance offspring fitness. We recommend that the chemical cues involved in avoidance by gravid female <i>S. calcitrans</i> of substrates with conspecific and heterospecific larvae should be elucidated. This could lead to the discovery of repellent chemicals important for <i>S. calcitrans</i> management.</span></p>
Data from: Proximity to parasites reduces host fitness independent of infection in a Drosophila-Macrocheles system
<p>We assayed the longevity and reproductive output of Drosophila nigrospiracula exposed or not exposed to ectoparasitic Macrocheles subbadius accross a mesh barrier. As such we measured the non-consumptive effects (extending the ecology of fear to host-parasite systems) of an ectoparasite on host fecundity and survival. We found that exposure to mites, without infection, caused flies to live shorter lives and produce fewer offspring.</p>
Data from: Toxins or medicines? Phytoplankton diets mediate host and parasite fitness in a freshwater system
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Data from: Parasite infections in a social carnivore: evidence of their fitness consequences and factors modulating infection load
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Data from: Intra- and intersexual differences in parasite resistance and female fitness tolerance in a polymorphic insect
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Data from: Ecological host fitting of Trypanosoma cruzi TcI in Bolivia: mosaic population structure, hybridization and a role for humans in Andean parasite dispersal
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Data from: Density-dependent fitness effects stabilize parasitic hitchhiking within a mutualism
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Data from: Proximity to parasites reduces host fitness independent of infection in a Drosophila-Macrocheles system
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Stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans L. (Diptera: Muscidae), improve offspring fitness by avoiding oviposition substrates with competitors or parasites
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Data from: Importance of infection of haemosporidia blood parasites during different life history stages for long-term reproductive fitness of collared flycatchers
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Data from: The relationship between parasite fitness and host condition in an insect - virus system
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Data from: Genetic diversity, virulence and fitness evolution in an obligate fungal parasite of bees
Within-host competition is predicted to drive the evolution of virulence in parasites, but the precise outcomes of such interactions are often unpredictable due to many factors including the biology of the host and the parasite, stochastic events and co-evolutionary interactions. Here, we use a serial passage experiment (SPE) with three strains of a heterothallic fungal parasite (Ascosphaera apis) of the Honey bee (Apis mellifera) to assess how evolving under increasing competitive pressure affects parasite virulence and fitness evolution. The results show an increase in virulence after successive generations of selection and consequently faster production of spores. This faster sporulation, however, did not translate into more spores being produced during this longer window of sporulation; rather, it appeared to induce a loss of fitness in terms of total spore production. There was no evidence to suggest that a greater diversity of competing strains was a driver of this increased virulence and subsequent fitness cost, but rather that strain-specific competitive interactions influenced the evolutionary outcomes of mixed infections. It is possible that the parasite may have evolved to avoid competition with multiple strains because of its heterothallic mode of reproduction, which highlights the importance of understanding parasite biology when predicting disease dynamics.
Data from: The impact of within-host ecology on the fitness of a drug-resistant parasite
Background and objectives: The rate of evolution of drug resistance depends on the fitness of resistant pathogens. The fitness of resistant pathogens is reduced by competition with sensitive pathogens in untreated hosts and so enhanced by competitive release in drug-treated hosts. We set out to estimate the magnitude of those effects on a variety of fitness measures, hypothesizing that competitive suppression and competitive release would have larger impacts when resistance was rarer to begin with. Methodology: We infected mice with varying densities of drug-resistant Plasmodium chabaudi malaria parasites in a fixed density of drug-sensitive parasites and followed infection dynamics using strain-specific quantitative PCR. Results: Competition with susceptible parasites reduced the absolute fitness of resistant parasites by 50-100%. Drug treatment increased the absolute fitness from 2- to >10 000-fold. The ecological context and choice of fitness measure was responsible for the wide variation in those estimates. Initial population growth rates poorly predicted parasite abundance and transmission probabilities. Conclusions and implications: (i) The sensitivity of estimates of pathogen fitness to ecological context and choice of fitness measure make it difficult to derive field-relevant estimates of the fitness costs and benefits of resistance from experimental settings. (ii) Competitive suppression can be a key force preventing resistance from emerging when it is rare, as it is when it first arises. (iii) Drug treatment profoundly affects the fitness of resistance. Resistance evolution could be slowed by developing drug use policies that consider in-host competition.
Data from: The fitness of drug-resistant malaria parasites in a rodent model: multiplicity of infection
Malaria infections normally consist of more than one clonally-replicating lineage. Within-host interactions between sensitive and resistant parasites can have profound effects on the evolution of drug resistance. Here, using the Plasmodium chabaudi mouse malaria model, we ask whether the costs and benefits of resistance are affected by the number of co-infecting strains competing with a resistant clone. We found strong competitive suppression of resistant parasites in untreated infections and marked competitive release following treatment. The magnitude of competitive suppression depended on competitor identity. However, there was no overall effect of the diversity of susceptible parasites on the extent of competitive suppression or release. If these findings generalize, then transmission intensity will impact on resistance evolution because of its effect on the frequency of mixed infections, not because of its effect on the distribution of clones per host. This would greatly simplify the computational problems of adequately capturing within-host ecology in models of drug resistance evolution in malaria.
Data from: Effects of aphid parasitism on host plant fitness in an aphid-host relationship.
Aphids are serious agricultural insect pests which exploit the phloem sap of host plants and thus transmit pathogens to their hosts. However, the degree to which aphid parsitism affects the fitness of the host plants is not well understood. The aphid, Macrosiphoniella yomogicola, parasitizes the mugwort Artemisia montana in Japan. During summer most mugworts carry aphids, but most aphid colonies die out after the budding of A. montana inflorescences in late summer. A few aphid colonies survive to late autumn, at which point sexuparae appear to later lay overwintering eggs after copulation. The death of the aphid colonies seems to cause by biochemical changes in the phloem sap in the host plant coincident with the budding of inflorescences. The surviving aphid colonies may suppress the budding of inflorescences to allow persistence of their genetic line into the following year. Our investigations demonstrate that aphid parasitism did not affect host plant growth, but that it did significantly decrease the number of inflorescences and the average weight of floral buds. Our results indicate that aphid parasitism has a strong negative effect on the fitness of host plants. The manner in which the aphids suppress floral budding in their hosts is worth examining from the perspective of the evolution of aphid-plant interactions.
Data from: The impact of within-host ecology on the fitness of a drug-resistant parasite
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Data from: Aging parasites produce offspring with poor fitness prospects
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