Authors
Barbara Tschirren, Linda L Bischoff, Verena Saladin, Heinz Richner
Publication date
2007/4
Journal
Functional Ecology
Volume
21
Issue
2
Pages
372-378
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Description
- 1Parasites might preferentially feed on hosts in good nutritional condition as such hosts provide better resources for the parasites’ own growth, survival and reproduction. However, hosts in prime condition are also better able to develop costly immunological or physiological defence mechanisms, which in turn reduce the parasites’ reproductive success. The interplay between host condition, host defence and parasite fitness will thus play an important part in the dynamics of host–parasite systems.
- 2In a 2 × 2 design, we manipulated both the access to food in great tit Parus major broods and the exposure of the nestlings to hen fleas Ceratophyllus gallinae, a common ectoparasite of hole‐breeding birds. We subsequently investigated the role of manipulated host condition, host immunocompetence, and experimentally induced host defence in nestlings on the reproductive success of individual hen flea females.
- 3 …
Total citations
Scholar articles
B Tschirren, LL Bischoff, V Saladin, H Richner - Functional Ecology, 2007