Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T13:06:46.260Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The population dynamics of parasitic helminth communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2011

A. Dobson  and
M. Roberts
A. Dobson
Affiliation:
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1003, USA
M. Roberts
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Wallaceville Animal Research Centre, P.O. Box 40063, Upper Hutt, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This paper describes a mathematical model which allows us to compare the data collected from short-term cross-sectional surveys with the population dynamics of host and parasite populations over longer periods of time. The model extends an earlier framework for two parasite species in one host, to one for an arbitrary number of parasite species. We show that the conditions necessary for the coexistence of two parasite species extend to expressions for the coexistence of three or more parasite species. Furthermore, the model suggests that those species which form the ‘core’ of the parasite community are those whose high fecundity and transmission efficiency permit them to colonize hosts readily. In contrast, those species which are classified as ‘satellite’ species of the community are either species with low fecundity, or low transmission efficiencies. This work confirms earlier studies that suggest that increasing degrees of aggregation are crucial in allowing several species of parasites to coexist in the same species of hosts.

The properties of the model are compared with patterns observed in data collected for helminth parasites of Anolis lizards, wood mice and eels. This combined theoretical and empirical approach confirms the importance of the life history strategies of the parasite in determining the abundance of each species in the community. It suggests that studies of parasite community structure have to pay more attention to the strategies pursued by each individual species before interactions between species are considered.

Keywords

Helminth communityCompetitionmathematical modeltransmissionlife historyinterspecificinteractions.
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 109 , supplement S1: Parasites and behaviour , 1994 , pp. S97 - S108
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host-parasite population interactions—I. Regulatory processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 219–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host-parasite population interactions—I. Regulatory processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 219–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1982 a). Population dynamics of human helminth infections: control by chemotherapy. Nature 297, 557–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1982 b). Coevolution of hosts and parasites. Parasitology 85, 411–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1991). Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A. O., Aho, J. M. & Kennedy, C. R. (1990 ). Ecological versus phylogenetic determinants of helminth parasite community richness. Evolutionary Ecology 4, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A. O. & Holmes, J. C. (1986). Intestinal helminths of lesser scaup duck: an interactive community. Canadian Journal of Zoology 64, 142–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chesson, P. L. & Warner, R. R. (1981). Environmental variability promotes coexistence in lottery competitive systems. American Naturalist 117, 923—43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornell, H. V. & Lawton, J. H. (1992). Species interactions, local and regional processes, and limits to the richness of ecological communities: a theoretical perspective. Journal of Animal Ecology 61, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diekmann, O., Metz, J. A. J. & Heesterbeck, H. (1990 ). On the definition and the computation of the basic reproductive ratio RO in models for infectious diseases in heterogeneous populations. Journal of Mathematical Biology 28, 365–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, A. P. (1985). The population dynamics of competition between parasites. Parasitology 91, 317–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, A. P. (1988). The population biology of parasiteinduced changes in host behavior. Quarterly Reviews of Biology 63, 139–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dobson, A. P. (1990). Models for multi-species parasitehost communities. In The Structure of Parasite Communities, (ed. Esch, G., Kennedy, C. R. & Aho, J.), pp. 261–288. London:Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Dobson, A. P. & Keymer, A. E. (1990). Population dynamics and community structure of parasitic helminths. In Living in a Patchy Environment. (ed. Shorrocks, B. & Swingland, I. R.) pp. 107–126. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, A. P. & Pacala, S. W. (1992). The parasites of anolis lizards the Northern Lesser Antilles. 2. The structure of the parasite community. Oecologia 91, 118–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, A. P., Pacala, S. V., Roughgarden, J. D., Carper, E. R. & Harris, E. A. (1992). The Parasites of Anolis lizards in the Northern Lesser Antilles. 1. Patterns of distribution and abundance. Oecologia 91, 110–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esch, G. W., Kennedy, C. R., Bush, A. O. & Aho, J. M. (1988). Patterns in helminth communities in freshwater fish in Great Britain: alternative strategies for colonization. Parasitology 96, 519–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esch, G. W., Bush, A. O. & Aho, J. M. (1990). Parasite Communities: Patterns and Processes, London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Goater, C. P. & Bush, A. O. (1988). Intestinal helminth communities in long-billed curlews: the importance of congeneric host-specialists. Holarctic Ecology 11, 140–5.Google Scholar
Goater, T. M., Esch, G. W. & Bush, A. O. (1987). Helminth parasites of sympatric salamanders: ecological concepts at infracommunity, component and compound community levels. American Midland Naturalist 118, 289–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanski, I. (1982). Dynamics of regional distribution: the core and satellite species hypothesis. Oikos 38, 210—21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heesterbeek, J. A. P. & Roberts, M. G. (1994). Interspecific competition and the geographical distribution of red and arctic foxes Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus. Oikos 64, 505–15.Google Scholar
Holmes, J. C. (1973). Site selection by parasitic helminths: interspecific interactions, site segregation, and their importance to the development of helminth communities. Canadian Journal of Zoology 51, 333–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, J. C. & Price, P. W. (1986). Communities of parasites. In Community Ecology: Patterns and Processes, (ed. Kikkawa, J. & Anderson, D. J.), pp. 187–213. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1992). Field evidence for interactions between the acanthocephalans Acanthocephalus anguillae and A. lucii in eels, Anguilla anguilla. Ecological Parasitology 1, 122—34.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1993). The dynamics of intestinal helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla in a small stream: long term changes in richness and structure. Parasitology 107, 71–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C. R., Bush, A. O. & Aho, J. M. (1986). Patterns in helminth communities: why are birds and fish different? Parasitology 93, 205–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
May, R. M. & Anderson, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host-parasite population interactions—II. Destabilizing processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 248–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, R. M. & Anderson, R. M. (1990). Parasite-host coevolution. Parasitology 100, S89–S101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mollison, D. (1991). Dependence of epidemic and population velocities on basic parameters. Mathematical Biosciences 107, 255–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montgomery, S. S. J. & Montgomery, W. I. (1990). Structure, stability and species interactions in helminth communities of wood mice, Apodemus sylvaticus. International Journal for Parasitology 20, 225–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nee, S., Gregory, R. D. & May, R. M. (1991). Core and satellite species: theory and artifact. Oikos 62, 83–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pence, D. B. & Windberg, L. A. (1984). Population dynamics across selected habitat variables of the helminth community in coyotes, Canis latrans, from South Texas. Journal of Parasitology 70, 733–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, M. G. & Dobson, A. P. (1994). The population dynamics of communities of parasitic helminths. Mathematical Biosciences (in press).Google Scholar
Roberts, M. G. & Heesterbeek, J. A. P. (1994). The dynamics of nematode infections of ruminants. Parasitology (in press).Google Scholar
Rosenzweig, M. L. & Macarthur, R. H. (1963). Graphical representation and stability conditions of predatorprey interactions. American Naturalist 97, 209–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoener, T. W. (1986). Overview: kinds of ecological communities – ecology becomes pluralistic. In Community Ecology, (ed. Diamond, J. M. & Case, T. J.), pp. 467–479. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Sousa, W. P. (1993). Interspecific antagonism and species coexistence in a diverse guild of larval trematode parasites. Ecological Monographs 63, 103–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W. P. (1994). Patterns and processes in communities of helminth parasites. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9, 52–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, R. R. & Chesson, P. L. (1985). Coexistence mediated by recruitment fluctuations: a field guide to the storage effect. American Naturalist 125, 769–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar