Evolution of predator foraging in response to prey infection favors species coexistence

Prosnier, Loïc; Médoc, Vincent; Loeuille, Nicolas

doi:10.1101/2020.04.18.047811

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Higher mortality also results in a reduction in competitive ability (Decaestecker et al 2015). While the evolutionary investigations of predator diet go beyond the scope of the present article, theoretical work suggests that parasite effects could lead to antagonistic modifications in predator diet: the increase in host vulnerability should favor predation on the host contrary to the increase in host mortality (Prosnier et al 2020). It would be interesting to perform experiments with and without infection dynamics, that is, by fixing or not fixing the host density or parasite prevalence to separately consider the effects on host energy and host availability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasites make hosts more profitable but less available to predators

Prosnier

Loeuille²,

Hulot

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Parasites are omnipresent, and their eco-evolutionary significance has aroused much interest from scientists. Parasites may affect their hosts in many ways by altering host density, vulnerability to predation, and energy content, thus maximizing profitability within the optimal foraging framework. Consequently, parasites could impact predator diet and trophic links within food webs. Here, we investigate the consequences of the iridovirus Daphnia iridescent virus 1 (DIV-1) infection on the reproductive success, mortality, appearance, mobility, and biochemical composition of water fleas (Daphnia magna), a widespread freshwater crustacean. We compare search time between infected and uninfected Daphnia preyed by a common aquatic insect (Notonecta sp.) as well as the handling time and feeding preference of Notonecta sp. Our findings show that infection does not change fecundity but reduces lifespan and thereby constrains fitness. Infected Daphnia show reduced mobility and increased color reflectance in the UV and visible domains, which potentially affects their visibility and thus catchability. Infection increases body size and the amount of proteins but does not affect carbohydrate and lipid contents. Although infected Daphnia had a longer handling time, they tended to be preferred over uninfected individuals by aquatic insects. Taken together, our findings show that DIV-1 infection could make Daphnia more profitable to predators (23% energy increase), a positive effect that should be balanced with density reductions due to higher mortalities. We also highlight that exposure to infection in asymptomatic individuals leads to ecological characteristics that differ from both healthy and symptomatic infected individuals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasites make hosts more profitable but less available to predators

Prosnier

Loeuille²,

Hulot

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Like in this study, reductions in prey density correspond to lower consumption rates by the predator, which ultimately favors prey persistence. Prosnier et al (2020) modeled parasite transmission as horizontal between prey. This is not the case for stickleback prey, which become infected by parasites through consumption (Barber and Scharsack 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Little is known, for example, about the dual effects of parasite dynamics and predator evolution on coexistence of a predator with two competing prey. Prosnier et al (2020) used an epidemiological framework to examine the effect of prey infection on predator diet. They also examined the effect of predator diet evolution on coexistence using an adaptive dynamics evolutionary framework and showed that this type of evolution generally promotes coexistence among a predator and an infected and uninfected prey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sick of eating: Eco‐evo‐immuno dynamics of predators and their trophically acquired parasites

2021

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When predators consume prey, they risk becoming infected with their prey's parasites, which can then establish the predator as a secondary host. A predator population's diet therefore influences what parasites it is exposed to, as has been repeatedly shown in many species such as threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) (more benthic-feeding individuals obtain nematodes from oligocheate prey, whereas limnetic-feeding individuals catch cestodes from copepod prey). These differing parasite encounters, in turn, determine how natural selection acts on the predator's immune system. We might therefore expect that ecoevolutionary dynamics of a predator's diet (as determined by its ecomorphology) should drive correlated evolution of its immune traits. Conversely, the predator's immunity to certain parasites might alter the relative costs and benefits of different prey, driving evolution of its ecomorphology. To evaluate the potential for ecological morphology to drive evolution of immunity, and vice versa, we use a quantitative genetics framework coupled with an ecological model of a predator and two prey species (the diet options).Our analysis reveals fundamental asymmetries in the evolution of ecomorphology and immunity. When ecomorphology rapidly evolves, it determines how immunity evolves, but not vice versa. Weak trade-offs in ecological morphology select for diet generalists despite strong immunological trade-offs, but not vice versa. Only weak immunological trade-offs can explain negative diet-infection correlations across populations. The analysis also reveals that eco-evo-immuno feedbacks destabilize population dynamics when trade-offs are sufficiently weak and heritability is sufficiently high. Collectively, these results highlight the delicate interplay between multivariate trait evolution and the dynamics of ecological communities.

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“…Conversely, we need improve our understanding of how food web dynamics play a role in the dynamics of trophically transmitted parasites, and future theoretical studies should incorporate the dynamics of parasites along with the dynamics of the community in which they reside. Prosnier et al (2020) used an epidemiological framework to examine the effect of prey infection on predator diet. They also examined the effect of predator diet evolution on coexistence using an adaptive dynamics evolutionary framework and showed that this type of evolution generally promotes coexistence among a predator and an infected and uninfected prey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sick of Eating: eco-evo-immuno dynamics of predators and their trophically acquired parasites

Fleischer

Bolnick

Schreiber

2020

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When predators consume prey, they risk becoming infected with their prey's parasites, which can then establish the predator as a secondary host. For example, stickleback in northern temperate lakes consume benthic or limnetic prey, which are intermediate hosts for distinct species of parasites (e.g. Eustrongylides nematodes in benthic oligocheates and Schistocephalus solidus copepods in limnetic copepods). These worms then establish the stickleback as a secondary host and can cause behavioral changes linked to increased predation by birds. In this study, we use a quantitative genetics framework to consider the simultaneous eco-evolutionary dynamics of predator ecomorphology and predator immunity when alternative prey may confer different parasite exposures. When evolutionary tradeoffs are sufficiently weak, predator ecomorphology * Corresponding author (samfleischer@ucdavis.edu) 1 and immunity are correclated among populations, potentially generating a negative correlation between parasite intake and infection.web dynamics and structure (Cortez and Weitz 2014;Lafferty et al. 2006;Velzen and Gaedke 2017). Recent food web models are thus incorporating the effects of diet-driven infection rates, which depend on a host's position within the food web. However, after a parasite passes through this 'encounter filter,' it must then pass through a 'compatibility filter' by establishing an infection despite the host's immune response. Therefore, to understand the role of parasitism within an ecological community we must consider both the host diet (encounters) and host immunity (compatibility).Recent empirical and theoretical studies on eco-evolutionary feedbacks can help us understand how predators can encounter different trophically-transmitted parasites. In particular, predator-prey interactions may drive trait evolution in the prey to facilitate predator evasion or in the predator to optimize foraging success. Yoshida et al. (2003) found that prey evolution can affect the period and phase difference in predator-prey cycles, and Becks et al. (2010) found that the amount of heritable variation in a prey defense trait can shift dynamics between equilibrium and oscillatory states. These example illustrate how trait evolution modifies predator-prey interactions in ways that can change their population dynamics, coexistence, food web structure, and, hence, the rate of predator enounter with

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Evolution of predator foraging in response to prey infection favors species coexistence

Cited by 4 publications

References 57 publications

Parasites make hosts more profitable but less available to predators

Parasites make hosts more profitable but less available to predators

Sick of eating: Eco‐evo‐immuno dynamics of predators and their trophically acquired parasites

Sick of Eating: eco-evo-immuno dynamics of predators and their trophically acquired parasites

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