Abstract
Parasites are important players in ecological communities that can shape community structure and influence ecosystem energy flow. Yet beyond their effects on hosts, parasites can also function as an important prey resource for predators. Predators that consume infectious stages in the environment can benefit from a nutrient-rich prey item while concurrently reducing transmission to downstream hosts, highlighting the broad importance of this interaction. Less clear, however, are the specific characteristics of parasites and predators that increase the likelihood of consumption. Here, we determine what combination(s) of predator and parasite morphological traits lead to high parasite consumption. We exposed the infectious stages (cercariae) of five trematode (fluke) taxa to aquatic insect predators with varying foraging strategies and morphologies. Across the 19 predator—parasite combinations tested, damselfly predators in the family Coenagrionidae were, on average, the most effective predators of cercariae, consuming between 13 and 55% of administered cercariae. Large-bodied cercariae of Ribeiroia ondatrae had the highest average vulnerability to predation, with 37–48% of cercariae consumed. The interaction between predator head width and cercariae tail size strongly influenced the probability of consumption: small-bodied predators were the most effective consumers, particularly for larger tailed parasites. Thus, the likelihood of parasite consumption depended strongly on the relative size between predator and parasite. Our study helps establish that predation on free-living parasites largely follows a broader predator–prey framework. This will help to identify which predator and parasite combinations will likely have high consumptive interactions, potentially reducing parasite transmission in natural populations.
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Data availability
The data are publicly available through the figshare data repository: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13238285.v1
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to D. Calhoun, T. Stewart Merrill and L. Pelletier for their assistance and conducting the predation trails and data collection. We are grateful for the amazing field team in California, especially, V. Klimuk and D. Saunders who provided both the insect predators as well as the infected snails. We thank Andy Dean and Andy Fenton for their insights on the conceptual framework of the project. We also acknowledge B. Hobart, T. Stewart Merrill and W. Moss for their comments and discussions that resulted in drastic improvements of the early drafts of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation (DEB-1754171 and a Research Experience for Undergraduates supplement) and a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
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TMG, JK and PTJJ designed the experiment. TMG and SAC conducted the experiment. TMG, SAC, and PTJJ conducted the data analysis. TMG and SAC wrote the initial draft of the manuscript and all the authors contributed to the conceptual development and revision of the manuscript.
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Communicated by Jason Todd Hoverman.
Parasites can make up large proportions of a community’s biomass and may serve as valuable prey items for numerous predators. Identifying the drivers that determine parasite consumption will allow us to understand the likelihood of parasites serving as a viable food source for various predators and how predation on parasite can potentially reduce parasite transmission. Using an experimental approach, we demonstrate that predation on parasites is largely driven by a combination of predator and parasite size, with highest consumption patterns observed with smaller predators feeding on larger parasites.
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McDevitt-Galles, T., Carpenter, S.A., Koprivnikar, J. et al. How predator and parasite size interact to determine consumption of infectious stages. Oecologia 197, 551–564 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05010-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05010-w