Spatial clustering of hosts can favor specialist parasites

dc.contributor.authorDraghi, Jeremy A.en
dc.contributor.authorZook, Evanen
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-27T19:46:38Zen
dc.date.available2025-01-27T19:46:38Zen
dc.date.issued2024-11-17en
dc.description.abstractGeneralist parasites seem to enjoy the clear ecological advantage of a greater chance to find a host, and genetic trade-offs are therefore often invoked to explain why specialists can coexist with or outcompete generalists. Here we develop an alternative perspective based on optimal foraging theory to explain why spatial clustering can favor specialists even without genetic trade-offs. Using analytical and simulation models inspired by bacteriophage, we examine the optimal use of two hosts, one yielding greater reproductive success for the parasite than the other. We find that a phage may optimally ignore the worse host when the two hosts are clustered together in dense, ephemeral patches. We model conditions that enhance or reduce this selective benefit to a specialist parasite and show that it is eliminated entirely when the hosts occur only in separate patches. These results show that specialists can be favored even when trade-offs are weak or absent and emphasize the importance of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in models of optimal niche breadth.en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.extent13 page(s)en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifierARTN e70273 (Article number)en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70273en
dc.identifier.eissn2045-7758en
dc.identifier.issn2045-7758en
dc.identifier.issue11en
dc.identifier.otherPMC11570423en
dc.identifier.otherECE370273 (PII)en
dc.identifier.pmid39559465en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/124402en
dc.identifier.volume14en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWileyen
dc.relation.urihttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39559465en
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjecthost-parasiteen
dc.subjectmodelingen
dc.subjectniche evolutionen
dc.subjectoptimal foraging theoryen
dc.subjectphageen
dc.titleSpatial clustering of hosts can favor specialist parasitesen
dc.title.serialEcology and Evolutionen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.otherArticleen
dc.type.otherJournalen
dcterms.dateAccepted2024-08-20en
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Techen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/Scienceen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/Science/Biological Sciencesen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/All T&R Facultyen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/Science/COS T&R Facultyen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Spatial clustering of hosts can favor specialist parasites.pdf
Size:
1.06 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.5 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description: