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Title
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Coevolutionary arms races : increased host immune defense promotes specialization by avian fleas
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Author
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Abstract
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| We investigated the relationship between host defense and specialization by parasites in comparative analyses of bird fleas and T-cell mediated immune response of their avian hosts, showing that fleas with few main host species exploited hosts with weak or strong immune defenses, whereas flea species that parasitized a large number of host species only exploited hosts with weak immune responses. Hosts with strong immune responses were exploited by a larger number of flea species than hosts with weak responses. A path analysis model with an effect of T-cell response on the number of host species, or a model with host coloniality directly affecting host T-cell response, which in turn affected the number of host species used by fleas, best explained the data. Therefore, parasite specialization may have evolved in response to strong host defenses. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Journal of evolutionary biology. - Basel, 1987, currens
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Publication
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Basel
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Birkhäuser
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2005
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ISSN
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1010-061X
[print]
1420-9101
[online]
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DOI
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10.1111/J.1420-9101.2004.00774.X
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Volume/pages
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18
:1
(2005)
, p. 46-59
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ISI
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000226400000005
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Full text (Publisher's DOI)
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Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
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