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Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism

BACKGROUND: For parasites with a predator-prey life cycle, the completion of the life cycle often depends on consumption of parasitized prey by the predator. In the case of such parasite species the predator and the parasite have common interests and therefore a mutualistic relationship is possible....

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Autores principales: Jog, Maithili M, Watve, Milind G
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC554990/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15723710
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-5-3
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author Jog, Maithili M
Watve, Milind G
author_facet Jog, Maithili M
Watve, Milind G
author_sort Jog, Maithili M
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: For parasites with a predator-prey life cycle, the completion of the life cycle often depends on consumption of parasitized prey by the predator. In the case of such parasite species the predator and the parasite have common interests and therefore a mutualistic relationship is possible. Some evidence of a predator-parasite mutualism was reported from spotted deer or chital (Axix axis) as a prey species, dhole or Indian wild-dog (Cuon alpinus) as the predator and a protozoan (Sarcocystis axicuonis) as the parasite. We examine here, with the help of a model, the ecological conditions necessary for the evolution and stability of such a mutualistic relationship. A two – level game theory model was designed in which the payoff of a parasite is decided not only by alternative parasite strategies but also by alternative host strategies and vice versa. Conditions for ESS were examined. RESULTS: A tolerant predator strategy and a low or moderately virulent parasite strategy which together constitute mutualism are stable only at a high frequency of recycling of parasite and a substantial prey – capture benefit to the predator. Unlike the preliminary expectation, parasite will not evolve towards reduced virulence, but reach an optimum moderate level of virulence. CONCLUSION: The available data on the behavioral ecology of dhole and chital suggest that they are likely to meet the stability criteria and therefore a predator-parasite mutualism can be stable in this system. The model also points out the gaps in the current data and could help directing further empirical work.
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spelling pubmed-5549902005-03-20 Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism Jog, Maithili M Watve, Milind G BMC Ecol Research Article BACKGROUND: For parasites with a predator-prey life cycle, the completion of the life cycle often depends on consumption of parasitized prey by the predator. In the case of such parasite species the predator and the parasite have common interests and therefore a mutualistic relationship is possible. Some evidence of a predator-parasite mutualism was reported from spotted deer or chital (Axix axis) as a prey species, dhole or Indian wild-dog (Cuon alpinus) as the predator and a protozoan (Sarcocystis axicuonis) as the parasite. We examine here, with the help of a model, the ecological conditions necessary for the evolution and stability of such a mutualistic relationship. A two – level game theory model was designed in which the payoff of a parasite is decided not only by alternative parasite strategies but also by alternative host strategies and vice versa. Conditions for ESS were examined. RESULTS: A tolerant predator strategy and a low or moderately virulent parasite strategy which together constitute mutualism are stable only at a high frequency of recycling of parasite and a substantial prey – capture benefit to the predator. Unlike the preliminary expectation, parasite will not evolve towards reduced virulence, but reach an optimum moderate level of virulence. CONCLUSION: The available data on the behavioral ecology of dhole and chital suggest that they are likely to meet the stability criteria and therefore a predator-parasite mutualism can be stable in this system. The model also points out the gaps in the current data and could help directing further empirical work. BioMed Central 2005-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC554990/ /pubmed/15723710 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-5-3 Text en Copyright © 2005 Jog and Watve; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Jog, Maithili M
Watve, Milind G
Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
title Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
title_full Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
title_fullStr Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
title_full_unstemmed Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
title_short Sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
title_sort sarcocystosis of chital-dhole: conditions for evolutionary stability of a predator parasite mutualism
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC554990/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15723710
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-5-3
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