Deconstructing host quality offers insight into disease ecology

Disease risk varies among ecological communities because species differ in their host quality, that is, their contribution to parasite fitness. We propose a four-component framework of host quality that harmonizes terminology across plant and animal domains. Using this framework, we demonstrate how the host defense strategies of resistance and tolerance relate to distinct components of host quality. Easily extendable to multi-parasite systems, the framework also helps to identify new ways of examining the continuum between specialist and generalist parasites. Ultimately, breaking down and formalizing the components of host quality helps with synthesizing disease ecology across domains and unlocking relationships between biodiversity and disease risk.