Toor, J. and Best, A. (2016) Evolution of Host Defense against Multiple Enemy Populations. American Naturalist, 187 (3). pp. 308-319. ISSN 0003-0147
Abstract
Natural and managed populations are embedded within complex ecological communities, where they face multiple enemies. Experimental studies have shown that the evolution of host defense mechanisms to a focal enemy is impacted by the surrounding enemy community. Theoretically, the evolution of host defenses against a single enemy population, typically parasites, has been widely studied, but only recently has the impact of community interactions on host-parasite evolution been looked at. In this article, we theoretically examine the evolutionary behavior of a host population that must allocate defenses between two enemy populations, parasites and predators, with defense against one enemy constraining defense against the other. We show that in simpler models the composition of the enemy community plays the key role in determining the defense strategy of the hosts, with the hosts building up defenses against the enemy population posing a larger threat. However, this simple driver is shown to break down when there is significant recovery and reproduction from infected hosts. Additionally, we find that most host diversity is likely to occur when there is a combined high risk of infection and predation, in common with experimental studies. Our results therefore provide vital insight into the ecological feedbacks that drive the evolution of host defense against multiple enemy populations.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 by The University of Chicago. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in American Naturalist. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | host-parasite; defense evolution; predator-prey; community complexity; adaptive dynamics |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Oct 2015 12:55 |
Last Modified: | 11 Apr 2017 11:02 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/684682 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | University of Chicago Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1086/684682 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:90677 |