NDLI: It’s a predator–eat–parasite world: how characteristics of predator, parasite and environment affect consumption

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Orlofske, Sarah A. Jadin, Robert C. Johnson, Pieter T. J.
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Understanding the effects of predation on disease dynamics is increasingly important in light of the role ecological communities can play in host–parasite interactions. Surprisingly, however, few studies have characterized direct predation of parasites. Here we used an experimental approach to show that consumption of free-living parasite stages is highly context dependent, with significant influences of parasite size, predator size and foraging mode, as well as environmental condition. Among the four species of larval trematodes and two types of predators (fish and larval damselflies) studied here, parasites with larger infective stages (size >1,000 μm) were most vulnerable to predation by fish, while small-bodied fish and damselflies (size <10 mm) consumed the most infectious stages. Small parasite species (size approx. 500 μm) were less frequently consumed by both fish and larval damselflies. However, these results depended strongly on light availability; trials conducted in the dark led to significantly fewer parasites consumed overall, especially those with a size of <1,000 μm, emphasizing the importance of circadian shedding times of parasite free-living stages for predation risk. Intriguingly, active predation functioned to help limit fishes’ infection by directly penetrating parasite species. Our results are consistent with established theory developed for predation on zooplankton that emphasizes the roles of body size, visibility and predation modes and further suggest that consumer–resource theory may provide a predictive framework for when predators should significantly influence parasite transmission. These results contribute to our understanding of transmission in natural systems, the role of predator–parasite links in food webs and the evolution of parasite morphology and behavior.
Starting Page	537
Ending Page	547
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00298549
Journal	Oecologia
Volume Number	178
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	14321939
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2015-02-04
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Consumer–resource interaction Host–parasite Infection Predator–prey Transmission Ecology Plant Sciences Hydrology/Water Resources
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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