Population abundance and sex ratio in dioecious helminth parasites

Parasite populations are highly fragmented in space and time, and consist of aggregates of genetically similar individuals sharing the same host. To avoid inbreeding, theory predicts that female-biased sex ratios should be strongly favoured when either or both prevalence and intensity of infection are low. Other models indicate that if sex ratios are selected to increase the probability of mating, they should be less biased at a high intensity of infection in polygamous parasites, since at high intensities all females are mated. To test these predictions, the relationship between sex ratio and both the prevalence and intensity of infection was examined in comparative studies across 193 populations of nematode and acanthocephalan parasites. Sex ratios in these two dioecious, polygamous taxa are usually female biased. Among natural populations, no significant relationship was observed once the confounding effects of phylogeny had been removed. However, among experimental populations of nematodes, a negative relationship was found between intensity of infection and sex ratio, even after controlling for phylogeny. In other words, at high intensities, populations of nematodes are less female biased. This result must be treated with caution because of the unusually high numbers of worms per host in experimental infections. Nevertheless, combined with information on the proximate mechanisms regulating sex ratios in these parasites, it suggests a link between the characteristics of parasite populations and their sex ratio.