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Parasites as predators: unifying natural enemy ecology
Thomas R Raffel1, Lynn B Martin, Jason R Rohr
1Department of Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620, USA. traffel@cas.usf.edu
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
|October 1, 2008
Summary
Ecologists can gain new insights by unifying the study of parasite-host and predator-prey interactions. Applying concepts from one field to the other can advance ecological understanding and research.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Parasitology
Background:
- Parasitism and predation are often viewed as analogous ecological interactions.
- Despite similarities, parasite-host and predator-prey ecology are typically studied in isolation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the parasite-as-predator analogy.
- To explore how cross-disciplinary insights can advance both parasite-host and predator-prey ecology.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and conceptual synthesis.
- Comparative analysis of ecological concepts and hypotheses.
Main Results:
- The parasite-as-predator analogy has strengths and weaknesses.
- Concepts like temporal risk allocation and associational resistance from predator-prey ecology can inform parasite-host systems.
- Ideas such as threshold host densities and phylodynamics from parasite-host ecology may benefit predator-prey studies.
Conclusions:
- Unifying parasite-host and predator-prey ecology offers significant potential for advancing ecological theory.
- Further integration can foster novel hypotheses and research directions in both fields.
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