Whether larval amphibians school does not affect the parasite aggregation rule: testing the effects of host spatial heterogeneity in field and experimental studies

Almost all macroparasites show over-dispersed infections within natural host populations such that most parasites are distributed among a few heavily-infected individuals. Despite the importance of parasite aggregation for understanding system stability, the potential for population regulation, and super-spreading events, many questions persist about its underlying drivers. Theoretically, aggregation results from heterogeneity in host exposure, resistance, and tolerance. However, few studies have examined how host spatial arrangement – which likely affects both parasite encounter and density-dependent interactions – influences infection and dispersion, representing a critical gap in our current knowledge regarding the possible drivers of parasite aggregation. Using field data from over 165 ponds and 8,000 hosts, we evaluated how the spatial clustering of amphibian larvae within ponds 1) varied among different amphibian species, and 2), affected the distribution of parasites within the h...

几乎所有大型寄生虫在自然宿主种群中均呈现过离散感染模式，即绝大多数寄生虫仅分布于少数重度感染宿主个体体内。尽管寄生虫聚集现象对于解析生态系统稳定性、种群调控潜力以及超级传播事件均具有重要价值，但目前学界对其潜在驱动机制仍存在诸多未解问题。从理论层面来看，寄生虫聚集源于宿主在暴露概率、免疫抗性与耐受能力上的异质性。然而，鲜有研究探讨宿主空间排布——这一因素很可能同时影响寄生虫的宿主接触概率与密度依赖型相互作用——如何作用于宿主感染情况与寄生虫分布模式，这一研究空白也成为当前我们解析寄生虫聚集驱动机制的关键短板。本研究依托覆盖165余个池塘与8000余尾宿主的野外调查数据，针对池塘内两栖类幼体的空间聚集模式开展了两项评估：1）不同两栖类物种的幼体空间聚集程度存在何种差异；2）此类空间聚集如何影响寄生虫在宿主种群内的分布……