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  • Title: Food web structure selects for parasite host range.
    Author: Park AW.
    Journal: Proc Biol Sci; 2019 Aug 14; 286(1908):20191277. PubMed ID: 31409250.
    Abstract:
    Complex life cycle parasites, including helminths, use intermediate hosts for development and definitive hosts for reproduction, with interactions between the two host types governed by food web structure. I study how a parasite's intermediate host range is controlled by the diet breadth of definitive host species and the cost of parasite generalism, a putative fitness cost that assumes host range trades off against fitness derived from a host species. In spite of such costs, a benefit to generalism may occur when the definitive host exhibits a large diet breadth, enhancing transmission of generalist parasites via consumption of a broad array of infected intermediate hosts. I develop a simple theoretical model to demonstrate how different host range infection strategies are differentially selected for across a gradient of definitive host diet breadth according to the cost of generalism. I then use a parasitic helminth-host database in conjunction with a food web database to show that diet breadth of definitive hosts promotes generalist infection strategies at the intermediate host level, indicating relatively low costs of parasite generalism among helminths.
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