The mean and variance of infection load reveal unseen host evolution
Jason Cosens Walsman,
Sabrina H Streipert,
Cheryl J Briggs
et al.
Abstract:Some hosts are more heavily infected than others, but this fact has been relatively neglected in the microparasite literature compared to the macroparasite literature. We develop a model that allows host population mean and variance of microparasite load to fluctuate dynamically over time, dependent on underlying processes. Our model uses empirically reasonable, non-linear functional forms, e.g., for the probability of infected hosts surviving as a function of load. Despite non-linearities, we derive an approx… Show more
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