Dissecting the effect of a heterogeneous environment on the interaction between host and parasite fitness traits |
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Authors: | Desiree E Allen Tom J Little |
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Institution: | (1) Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK |
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Abstract: | Environmental variation can alter the probability of parasitic infection or the fitness consequence of infection, and thus
has the potential to dramatically alter the dynamics of host parasite coevolution. Here we investigated the effect of a changing
temperature on host-parasite interactions using the crustacean Daphnia magna and its bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa. By reciprocally varying (1) the temperature at which exposure to parasites occurred and (2) the temperature at which within-host
parasite growth occurred, and measuring several fitness-related traits, we show that while there are temperature combinations
that favour either host or parasite, there are also conditions that favour neither, that is, negative fitness consequences
for the host without fitness benefits for the parasite. This result highlights the importance of considering a heterogeneous
rather than static environment in coevolutionary studies, while also showing support for an optimal virulence strategy in
castrating parasites. |
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Keywords: | |
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