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Parasites in food webs: the ultimate missing links
Kevin D Lafferty1, Stefano Allesina, Matias Arim
1Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey. c/o Marine Science Institute, UC, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. lafferty@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Ecology Letters
|May 9, 2008
Summary
Parasites, the most common consumer strategy, uniquely alter food web properties like structure and stability. Integrating infectious disease agents into food webs is crucial for ecological understanding and theoretical advancements.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Theoretical Biology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Parasitism is the dominant consumer strategy globally.
- Inclusion of infectious disease agents in ecological food webs is a recent but critical development.
- Parasites possess unique characteristics that can influence food web dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of parasites on food web properties.
- To explore the integration of parasites into food web theory and empirical studies.
- To identify challenges and future directions for incorporating infectious disease agents into ecological networks.
Main Methods:
- Reviewing existing evidence on parasite effects on food webs.
- Proposing empirical methods for incorporating parasites into food web construction.
- Discussing theoretical challenges in modeling parasites within food web frameworks.
Main Results:
- Parasites can uniquely alter food web topology (chain length, connectance, robustness).
- Parasites influence food web stability, interaction strength, and energy flow.
- Food web structure significantly impacts infectious disease dynamics.
Conclusions:
- Incorporating parasites into food webs is empirically feasible and theoretically important.
- Significant theoretical challenges remain in accommodating parasite complexity (e.g., life cycles) within existing food web models.
- Interdisciplinary collaboration between ecologists and infectious disease biologists is essential for future progress.
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