Parasite predators exhibit a rapid numerical response to increased parasite abundance and reduce transmission to hosts

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dc.contributor.authorHopkins, Skylar R.en
dc.contributor.authorWyderko, Jennie A.en
dc.contributor.authorSheehy, Robert R.en
dc.contributor.authorBelden, Lisa K.en
dc.contributor.authorWojdak, Jeremy M.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-06T18:38:05Zen
dc.date.available2019-11-06T18:38:05Zen
dc.date.issued2013-05-09en
dc.description.abstractPredators of parasites have recently gained attention as important parts of food webs and ecosystems. In aquatic systems, many taxa consume free-living stages of parasites, and can thus reduce parasite transmission to hosts. However, the importance of the functional and numerical responses of parasite predators to disease dynamics is not well understood. We collected host–parasite–predator cooccurrence data from the field, and then experimentally manipulated predator abundance, parasite abundance, and the presence of alternative prey to determine the consequences for parasite transmission. The parasite predator of interest was a ubiquitous symbiotic oligochaete of mollusks, Chaetogaster limnaei limnaei, which inhabits host shells and consumes larval trematode parasites. Predators exhibited a rapid numerical response, where predator populations increased or decreased by as much as 60% in just 5 days, depending on the parasite:predator ratio. Furthermore, snail infection decreased substantially with increasing parasite predator densities, where the highest predator densities reduced infection by up to 89%. Predators of parasites can play an important role in regulating parasite transmission, even when infection risk is high, and especially when predators can rapidly respond numerically to resource pulses. We suggest that these types of interactions might have cascading effects on entire disease systems, and emphasize the importance of considering disease dynamics at the community level.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants DEB-0918656 (J. M. W.) and DEB-0918960 (L. K. B.). S. Hopkins was supported by a Research Experience for Undergraduates supplement to NSF DEB-0918656.en
dc.format.extent12 pagesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.634en
dc.identifier.issue13en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/95306en
dc.identifier.volume3en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWileyen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectCommensalismen
dc.subjectcommunity dynamicsen
dc.subjectdisease ecologyen
dc.subjecthost–parasite interactionsen
dc.subjectmutualismen
dc.titleParasite predators exhibit a rapid numerical response to increased parasite abundance and reduce transmission to hostsen
dc.title.serialEcology and Evolutionen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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