Ecology of fear: Ontogeny-mediated non-consumptive effects in a parasite-host system

Non-consumptive effects (NCEs) arise in the presence of parasites even when the infection does not occur and can include changes to host behaviour, physiology, or morphology. Using the Drosophila nigrospiracula – Macrocheles subbadius fly-mite system, we investigated the impact of parasite exposure (sans infection) during the pupal and adult pre-reproductive stages. First, we exposed fly pupae to mites—either indirectly (caged mites) or directly (free-roaming mites) to test the effects of parasite exposure on pupation success. Second, we tested how exposing adult female flies to mites prior to reproduction affects fecundity during the post-exposure reproductive period. We found that direct exposure to mites significantly decreased the rate of successful eclosion (development from pupa to adult) compared to unexposed pupae; however, the duration of pupation was not significantly affected. The indirect exposure did not have a significant effect on either successful eclosion or duration of..., Pre-reproductive exposure 
(Data: Offspring.csv)
Fecundity was measured by aspirating and manually counting all F1 offspring that emerged from each of the 6 serial transfer vials. Fecundity analysis was performed using a generalized linear mixed effects model with a negative binomial distribution (glmer.nb; package lme4). The number of offspring (\"Offspring\") was the dependent variable and exposure (\"Treatment\") was the explanatory variable, with the fly mating group (\"ID\") as a random variable to account for natural heterogeneity between each mating group. In total, there were 18 350 offspring collected from female flies not exposed to mites (n=28) and 17 102 from those exposed to mites (n = 28).
(Data: SexRatios.csv)
A random subsample of 100 flies from each mating group (\"ID\") was sexed and a generalized linear model using the ‘cbind’ formula with binomial distribution (glm, family = ”binomial”) was used to analyze the effect of \"Treatment\" (Control = no mites; Exposed = 5 mites..., , # Ecology of fear: ontogeny-mediated non-consumptive effects in a parasite-host system

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.931zcrjtz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.931zcrjtz)

## Description of the data and file structure

This data set contains measurements of fly fecundity and development. There are five data files in total: Offspring.csv, Weight.csv, SexRatios.csv, Emerged.csv, and Duration.csv. For pre-reproductive female data files (Offspring.csv, Weight.csv, SexRatios.csv), each cell represents a single measurement for a group of 3 female flies. For pupae emergence data (Emerged.csv), each cell represents a measurement out of 10 pupae. In the pupae duration data (Duration.csv), each cell represents a single measurement for a single pupa and NA denotes any pupae that did not successfully emerge within the 7 days (see Methods section of MS).  

#### *(Data file: Offspring.csv)*

A mating group (henceforth known as \"MG\"; 3 female flies + 2 male flies) was given an \"ID\", which allowed us ...