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Parasites in food webs: the ultimate missing links
Author(s) -
Lafferty Kevin D.,
Allesina Stefano,
Arim Matias,
Briggs Cherie J.,
De Leo Giulio,
Dobson Andrew P.,
Dunne Jennifer A.,
Johnson Pieter T. J.,
Kuris Armand M.,
Marcogliese David J.,
Martinez Neo D.,
Memmott Jane,
Marquet Pablo A.,
McLaughlin John P.,
Mordecai Erin A.,
Pascual Mercedes,
Poulin Robert,
Thieltges David W.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01174.x
Subject(s) - food web , ecology , biology , niche , food chain , ecological network , robustness (evolution) , infectious disease (medical specialty) , emerging infectious disease , computer science , trophic level , disease , ecosystem , medicine , biochemistry , pathology , virology , outbreak , gene
Parasitism is the most common consumer strategy among organisms, yet only recently has there been a call for the inclusion of infectious disease agents in food webs. The value of this effort hinges on whether parasites affect food‐web properties. Increasing evidence suggests that parasites have the potential to uniquely alter food‐web topology in terms of chain length, connectance and robustness. In addition, parasites might affect food‐web stability, interaction strength and energy flow. Food‐web structure also affects infectious disease dynamics because parasites depend on the ecological networks in which they live. Empirically, incorporating parasites into food webs is straightforward. We may start with existing food webs and add parasites as nodes, or we may try to build food webs around systems for which we already have a good understanding of infectious processes. In the future, perhaps researchers will add parasites while they construct food webs. Less clear is how food‐web theory can accommodate parasites. This is a deep and central problem in theoretical biology and applied mathematics. For instance, is representing parasites with complex life cycles as a single node equivalent to representing other species with ontogenetic niche shifts as a single node? Can parasitism fit into fundamental frameworks such as the niche model? Can we integrate infectious disease models into the emerging field of dynamic food‐web modelling? Future progress will benefit from interdisciplinary collaborations between ecologists and infectious disease biologists.