Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer
Exposure to environmentally transmitted parasites should increase with population density due to accumulation of infective parasites in space. However, resource competition also increases with density, lowering immunity and increasing susceptibility, offering an alternative pathway for density-depen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
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| Series: | Parasitology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0031182025100516/type/journal_article |
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| author | Adam Z. Hasik Shane Butt Katie Maris Sean Morris Alison Morris Richard S. Turner Josephine M. Pemberton Gregory F. Albery |
| author_facet | Adam Z. Hasik Shane Butt Katie Maris Sean Morris Alison Morris Richard S. Turner Josephine M. Pemberton Gregory F. Albery |
| author_sort | Adam Z. Hasik |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Exposure to environmentally transmitted parasites should increase with population density due to accumulation of infective parasites in space. However, resource competition also increases with density, lowering immunity and increasing susceptibility, offering an alternative pathway for density-dependent infection. To test the relationships between these two processes and parasitism, we examined associations between host density, resource availability, immunity, and counts of 3 common helminth parasites using a long-term study of red deer. We found evidence that immunity increased with resource availability while parasite counts declined with immunity. We also found that greater density correlated with reduced resource availability, and while density was positively associated with both strongyle and tissue worm burdens, resource availability was independently and negatively associated with the same burdens. Our results support separate roles of density-dependent exposure and susceptibility in driving infection, providing evidence that resource competition is an important driver of infection, exacerbating effects of density-dependent increases in exposure. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-60f1cc66a0904033aefcd07509c7f1eb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0031-1820 1469-8161 |
| language | English |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Parasitology |
| spelling | doaj-art-60f1cc66a0904033aefcd07509c7f1eb2025-08-20T03:28:10ZengCambridge University PressParasitology0031-18201469-816111110.1017/S0031182025100516Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deerAdam Z. Hasik0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4069-7186Shane Butt1Katie Maris2Sean Morris3Alison Morris4Richard S. Turner5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9074-6663Josephine M. Pemberton6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0075-1504Gregory F. Albery7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6260-2662Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKDepartment of Zoology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, IrelandExposure to environmentally transmitted parasites should increase with population density due to accumulation of infective parasites in space. However, resource competition also increases with density, lowering immunity and increasing susceptibility, offering an alternative pathway for density-dependent infection. To test the relationships between these two processes and parasitism, we examined associations between host density, resource availability, immunity, and counts of 3 common helminth parasites using a long-term study of red deer. We found evidence that immunity increased with resource availability while parasite counts declined with immunity. We also found that greater density correlated with reduced resource availability, and while density was positively associated with both strongyle and tissue worm burdens, resource availability was independently and negatively associated with the same burdens. Our results support separate roles of density-dependent exposure and susceptibility in driving infection, providing evidence that resource competition is an important driver of infection, exacerbating effects of density-dependent increases in exposure.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0031182025100516/type/journal_articledensity dependencelong-term studyNDVIparasiteresource availabilityspatial analysis |
| spellingShingle | Adam Z. Hasik Shane Butt Katie Maris Sean Morris Alison Morris Richard S. Turner Josephine M. Pemberton Gregory F. Albery Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer Parasitology density dependence long-term study NDVI parasite resource availability spatial analysis |
| title | Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer |
| title_full | Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer |
| title_fullStr | Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer |
| title_short | Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer |
| title_sort | population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer |
| topic | density dependence long-term study NDVI parasite resource availability spatial analysis |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0031182025100516/type/journal_article |
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