The ecology of host-finding behaviour and parasite transmission: past and future perspectives | Parasitology | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Summary

Host location by parasites can be achieved by either active or passive mechanisms. In spite of their significance, the efficacy of these methods has been little researched. High fecundity in parasites is discussed in terms of the role it plays in dispersal and transmission. Some concepts developed by mainstream behavioural ecologists are outlined and their relevance to parasitology is indicated. ‘Reproductive value’ is recommended as an appropriate measure of the costs and benefits of behavioural acts. Although costs of reproduction have been rarely studied in parasites, they are likely to occur in cosexual insects, nematodes and crustaceans. Experiments using captive hosts and/or in vitro cultivation could help in the construction of realistic optimality models. We suggest that r- and K-selection theory could assist in the study of the evolution of parasite behaviour. We discuss how parasite populations are dispersed and controlled and consider the implications of overdispersion. WTe outline three sources of signals to which parasites may respond and suggest that understanding evolutionary mechanisms and community organisation of parasites and hosts requires evaluation of fundamental behavioural responses to environmental signals. The study of closely related groups of parasites and their hosts may advance our knowledge of the evolution of parasite life cycles and the evolutionary costs and benefits of behavioural acts.

References

Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host-parasite population interactions. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 219–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Anderson, R. M. & Gordon, D. M. (1982). Processes influencing the distribution of parasite numbers within host populations with special emphasis on parasite induced host mortalities. Parasitology 85, 373–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Bradley, D. J. (1974). Stability in host-parasite systems. In Ecological Stability (ed. Usher, M. B. & Williamson, M. H.), pp. 71–88. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Burr, A. H. (1984). Photomovement behaviour in simple invertebrates. In Photoreception and Vision in Invertebrates (ed. Ali, M. A.). Nato Asi Series A, Life Sciences Plenum 74, 170–215.Google Scholar

Calow, P. & Jennings, J. B. (1974). Calorific values in the phylum platyhelminthes: the relationship between potential energy, mode of life and the evolution of endoparasitism. Biological Bulletin 147,81–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Canning, E. U. & Wright, C. A. (1972). Behavioural Aspects of Parasite Transmission. New YorkAcademic Press.Google Scholar

Clarke, B. C. (1979). The evolution of genetic diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. [Biol] 205, 453–74.Google ScholarPubMed

Charnov, E. L. (1982). The Theory of Sex Allocation. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google ScholarPubMed

Cheng, T. C. (1967). An analysis of the factors involved in symbiosis. In Advances in Marine Biology vol.5,(ed. Russell, F. S.), PP 16–134. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar

Chernin, E. (1974). Some host-finding attributes of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 23, 320–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Combes, C. (1991). Ethological aspects of parasite transmission. The American Naturalist 138, 866–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Crofton, H. D. (1971 b). A model of host-parasite relationships. Parasitology 63, 343–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Curio, E. (1988). Behavioural and parasitism. In Parasitology in Focus (ed. Mehlhorn, H.), pp. 149–60. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Davenport, D. (1966). Experimental analysis of behaviour in symbioses. In Symbiosis (ed. Henry, S. M.), pp. 381–429.New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar

Dobson, A. P. & Hudson, P. J. (1986). Parasites, disease and the structure of ecological communities. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 1, 11–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Esch, G. W., Hazen, T. C. & Aho, J. M. (1977). Parasitism and r and K selection. In Regulation of Parasite Populations (ed. Esch, G.), pp. 9–62. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar

Fraenkel, G. S. & Gunn, D. L. (1940, 1961). The Orientation of Animals. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Gamez, R. (1983). Maize rayado fino disease. The virushost- vector interaction in Neotropical environments. Proceedings International Maize Virus Disease Colloquium and Workshop, 2nd, 1982, Wooster, Ohio.Google Scholar

Gibbs, A. J. (1983). Virus ecology-‘Struggle’ of the genes. In Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, vol.12c, Physiological Plant Ecology, Iii: Responses to the chemical and biological environments (ed. Lange, O. L., Nobel, P. S., Osmond, D. C. B. & Zeigler, H.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar

Gilpin, M. (1975). Group Selection in Predator-Prey Communities. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Goodman, D. (1982). Optimal life histories, optimal notation and the value of reproductive value. The American Naturalist 119, 803–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Gregory, R. D. & Keymer, A. E. (1989). The ecology of host-parasite interactions. Science Progress (Oxford) 73, 67–80.Google ScholarPubMed

Haas, W. (1988). Host finding-A physiological effect. In Parasitology in Focus. Facts and Trends (ed. Mehlhorn, H.), Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar

Hamilton, W. D. (1967). Extraordinary sex ratios. Science 156, 477–88.Google Scholar

Horn, S. & Rubenstein, D. (1984). Behavioural adaptations and life history. In Behavioural Ecology An Evolutionary Approach (ed. Krebs, J. R. & Davies, N. B.), Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar

Jennings, J. B. & Calow, P. (1975). The relationship between high fecundity and the evolution of endoparasitism. Oecologia 21, 109–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Kennedy, C. R. (1975). Ecological Animal Parasitology. Oxford:Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar

Kennedy, C. R. (1976). Reproduction and dispersal. In Ecological Aspects of Parasitology (ed. Kennedy, C. R.), pp. 143–60.Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar

Kennedy, C. R. (1984). Producers and Scroungers. In Strategies of Exploitation and Parasitism (ed. Barnard, C. J.), pp. 34–60.London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar

Leigh, E. G. (1983). When does the good of the group override the advantage of the individuals ? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Usa 80, 2985–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Macarthur, R. H. & Wilson, E. O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University PressGoogle Scholar

Macinnis, A. J. (1965). Responses of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia to chemical attractants. Journal of Parasitology 51, 731–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Macinnis, A. J. (1976). How parasites find hosts. Some thoughts on the inception of host-parasite integration. In Ecological Aspects of Parasitology (ed. Kennedy, C. R.), pp. 3–20.Amsterdam: North HollandPublishing Company.Google Scholar

May, R. M. & Anderson, R. M. (1983). Parasite-host coevolution. In Coevolution (ed. Futuyma, D. J. & Slatkin, M.), pp. 186–206.Sinauer, Sunderland, Mass.Google ScholarPubMed

Maynar Smith, J. (1971). The Origin and Maintenance of Sex. Group Selection (ed. Williams, G. C ), pp. 163–75.Chicago:Aldine-Atherton.Google Scholar

Price, P. W. (1980). Evolutionary Biology of Parasites. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press.Google ScholarPubMed

Rea, J. G. & Irwin, S. W. B. (1991). Behavioural responses of the cercariae of Cryptocotyle lingua (Digenea: Heterophyidae) to computer-controlled shadow sequences. Parasitology 103, 471–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Rea, J. G. & Irwin, S. W. B. (1992). The effects of computer-controlled shadow stimuli on the success of cercarial transmission by Cryptocotyle lingua (Digenea: Heterophyidae). Parasitology 105, 243–6.Google Scholar

Schwabe, C. W. & Kilejian, A. K. (1968). Chemical aspects of the ecology of platyhelminths. Chemical Zoology 2, 467–549.Google Scholar

Seidenberg, A. J., Kelley, P. C, Lubin, E. R. & Buffington, J. D. (1974). Helminths of the cotton rat in southern Virginia with comments on the sex ratios of parasitic nematode populations. American Midland Naturalist 92, 320–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Shiff, C. J. (1974). Seasonal factors influencing the location of Bulinus (Physopis) globosus by miracidia of Schistosoma haematobium in nature. Journal of Parasitology 60, 578–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Smith Trail, D. R. (1980). Behavioural interactions between parasites and hosts: Host suicide and the evolution of complex life cycles. The American Naturalist 116, 77–91.Google Scholar

Stearns, S. C. (1992). Trade offs in the evolution of life histories. In The Evolution of Life Histories, pp. 72–90.Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Sukhdeo, M. V. K. & Mettrick, D. F. (1987). Parasite behaviour: Understanding platyhelminth responses. Advances in Parasitology 26, 74–144.Google ScholarPubMed

Thresh, J. M. (1980). An ecological approach to the epidemiology of plant viruses. In Comparative Epidemiology (ed. Plati, J. & Kranz, J.), pp. 57–70.Wageningen: Pudoc.Google Scholar

Ulmer, M. J. (1971). Site finding behaviour in helminths in intermediate and definitive hosts. In Ecology and Physiology of Parasites (ed. Fallis, A. M.), pp. 123–60.Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Wakelin, D. (1978). Genetic control of susceptibility and resistance to parasitic infection. Advances in Parasitology 16, 219–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Williams, G. C. (1966). Natural selection, the costs of reproduction and a refinement of Lack's principle. The American Naturalist 100, 687–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Young, L. E., Young, R. E. & Bundy, D. A. P. (1987). Photoreceptor evoked potentials and phototactic behaviour in Cercaria caribbea Lxxi Cable. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 88A, 619–24CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed