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COMPARATIVE TRANSMISSION DYNAMICS OF COMPETING PARASITE SPECIES.
Christopher W Harbison, Sarah E Bush, Jael R Malenke1
1Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 USA.
Ecology
|November 27, 2019
Summary
Inferior competitors, like wing lice, are better dispersers than superior competitors, such as body lice. This study demonstrates wing lice effectively colonize new hosts via phoretic transmission on flies, unlike body lice.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Parasitology
Background:
- Competition-colonization trade-off models predict that inferior competitors are superior dispersers.
- Testing this prediction in natural populations is challenging due to difficulties in measuring dispersal.
- Host-parasite systems offer a tractable model for studying parasite dispersal (transmission) due to the parasite's close association with the host.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the dispersal prediction of the competition-colonization model in a natural host-parasite system.
- To compare the dispersal abilities of two competing louse groups (wing vs. body lice) on Rock Pigeons (Columba livia).
- To investigate the role of vertical and horizontal transmission, including phoresy, in louse dispersal.
Main Methods:
- Documented transmission dynamics of feather-feeding lice (wing and body lice) on Rock Pigeons.
- Compared dispersal abilities of wing and body lice using vertical transmission to nestlings and horizontal transmission via phoretic hitchhiking on hippoboscid flies.
- Conducted experiments with both captive and wild birds to assess transmission mechanisms.
Main Results:
- Wing lice demonstrated significantly greater ability to colonize new hosts compared to body lice.
- Wing lice exhibited higher vertical transmission rates to nestlings and were capable of phoretic transmission on flies.
- Body lice showed no evidence of phoretic transmission, indicating they are competitively superior but poorer dispersers.
Conclusions:
- The study provides the first rigorous demonstration of phoretic transmission in lice.
- Results support the competition-colonization trade-off model, showing inferior competitors (wing lice) are superior dispersers.
- Highlights the importance of a community-level perspective for understanding parasite transmission ecology.
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