Search results for "host-parasite interaction"
showing 2 items of 342 documents
Data from: Impact of host nutritional status on infection dynamics and parasite virulence in a bird-malaria system
2013
1. Host resources can drive the optimal parasite exploitation strategy by offering a good or a poor environment to pathogens. Hosts living in resource-rich habitats might offer a favourable environment to developing parasites because they provide a wealth of resources. However, hosts living in resource-rich habitats might afford a higher investment into costly immune defences providing an effective barrier against infection. Understanding how parasites can adapt to hosts living in habitats of different quality is a major challenge in the light of the current human-driven environmental changes. 2. We studied the role of nutritional resources as a source of phenotypic variation in host exploi…
Phosphorus limitation enhances parasite impact: feedback effects at the population level
2014
Background Nutrient deficiency affects the growth and population dynamics of consumers. Endoparasites can be seen as consumers that drain carbon (C) or energy from their host while simultaneously competing for limiting resources such as phosphorus (P). Depending on the relative demands of the host and the parasite for the limiting nutrient, intensified resource competition under nutrient limitation can either reduce the parasite’s effect on the host or further reduce the fitness of the nutrient-limited host. So far, knowledge of how nutrient limitation affects parasite performance at the host population level and how this affects the host populations is limited. Results We followed the popu…