Journal
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
Volume 25, Issue 6, Pages 362-371Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2010.01.005
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
- NSF [DEB-0553768]
- University of California
- Santa Barbara
- State of California
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- German Research Foundation (DFG) [Th1361/1-1]
- Division Of Earth Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [0841758] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Recent efforts to include parasites in food webs have drawn attention to a previously ignored facet of foraging ecology: parasites commonly function as prey within ecosystems. Because of the high productivity of parasites, their unique nutritional composition and their pathogenicity in hosts, their consumption affects both food-web topology and disease risk in humans and wildlife. Here, we evaluate the ecological, evolutionary and epidemiological significance of feeding on parasites, including concomitant predation, grooming, predation on free-living stages and intraguild predation. Combining empirical data and theoretical models, we show that consumption of parasites is neither rare nor accidental, and that it can sharply affect parasite transmission and food web properties. Broader consideration of predation on parasites will enhance our understanding of disease control, food web structure and energy transfer, and the evolution of complex life cycles.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available