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The Road Not Taken: Host Infection Status Influences Parasite Host-Choice

The Road Not Taken: Host Infection Status Influences Parasite Host-Choice ABSTRACTThe manipulation of host organisms by their parasites has captured the attention of ecologists, parasitologists, and the public. However, our knowledge of parasite behavior independent of a host is limited despite the far-reaching implications of parasite behavior. Parasite behaviors can help explain trematode community structure, the aggregation of parasites within host populations, and can potentially be harnessed in biocontrol measures. In this study, we used a simple choice chamber design to examine whether trematode parasites can detect the infection status of a potential host and avoid hosts infected with a competitively dominant species. Our results show that Schistosoma mansoni, a competitively subordinate species, can detect and avoid hosts infected with a competitively dominant parasite, Echinostoma caproni. However, E. caproni, despite showing a significant preference for snails infected with S. mansoni over uninfected snails, showed little ability to detect the infection status of the host or even the host's presence. We propose subordinate species may be under stronger selection to avoid dominant competitors whereas dominant competitors may be more strongly selected to find any suitable host, regardless of infection status. Previous research has focused on parasites distinguishing between ‘host' and ‘non-host', which does not fully capture the complexity of these interactions. However, the ability of subordinate parasites to determine the infection status of a host results in a consistent evolutionary advantage. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of Parasitology Allen Press

The Road Not Taken: Host Infection Status Influences Parasite Host-Choice

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The Journal of Parasitology , Volume 106 (1): 8 – Feb 10, 2020
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Publisher
Allen Press
Copyright
© American Society of Parasitologists 2020
ISSN
0022-3395
eISSN
1937-2345
DOI
10.1645/19-140
Publisher site
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Abstract

ABSTRACTThe manipulation of host organisms by their parasites has captured the attention of ecologists, parasitologists, and the public. However, our knowledge of parasite behavior independent of a host is limited despite the far-reaching implications of parasite behavior. Parasite behaviors can help explain trematode community structure, the aggregation of parasites within host populations, and can potentially be harnessed in biocontrol measures. In this study, we used a simple choice chamber design to examine whether trematode parasites can detect the infection status of a potential host and avoid hosts infected with a competitively dominant species. Our results show that Schistosoma mansoni, a competitively subordinate species, can detect and avoid hosts infected with a competitively dominant parasite, Echinostoma caproni. However, E. caproni, despite showing a significant preference for snails infected with S. mansoni over uninfected snails, showed little ability to detect the infection status of the host or even the host's presence. We propose subordinate species may be under stronger selection to avoid dominant competitors whereas dominant competitors may be more strongly selected to find any suitable host, regardless of infection status. Previous research has focused on parasites distinguishing between ‘host' and ‘non-host', which does not fully capture the complexity of these interactions. However, the ability of subordinate parasites to determine the infection status of a host results in a consistent evolutionary advantage.

Journal

The Journal of Parasitology – Allen Press

Published: Feb 10, 2020

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