Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T13:51:16.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Parasites and competitors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

Melanie J. Hatcher
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Alison M. Dunn
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Get access

Summary

Introduction

As long ago as the 1940s, the potential importance of parasites in influencing competition between species had been demonstrated experimentally (Park, 1948). These laboratory experiments, which have now become a classic example in ecology, showed that infection by the shared sporozoan parasite Adelina tribolii reversed the outcome of competition between two species of flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum and T. confusum). When A. tribolii was present, T. castaneum was driven extinct in 66 of the 74 mixed-species cultures. In the absence of the parasite, T. confusum went extinct in 12 out of 18 mixed-species replicates. Park also censused single-species beetle populations with and without the parasite, from which he concluded that the parasite induced higher mortality in T. castaneum, and that this effect was largely responsible for the change in competitive outcomes. This example has become a cornerstone for much of the work on the effects of parasites in communities, illustrating three key concepts that will recur in this book:

  1. (1) Parasites can alter competitive relationships between host species.

  2. (2) By altering interactions such as competition, parasites can play keystone roles in ecological communities. That is, the addition of a parasite species can alter the outcome of an interaction, mediating coexistence or exclusion of one or other host species with knock-on effects throughout the community.

  3. (3) Alternative host species can act as reservoirs for parasite amplification, enabling maintenance of higher parasite population densities, and so providing increased opportunities to infect other species in which the parasite is more virulent.

Type
Chapter
Information
Parasites in Ecological Communities
From Interactions to Ecosystems
, pp. 20 - 89
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×