Department of Biology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA.
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Trends Parasitol. 2018 Nov;34(11):928-933. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2018.07.008. Epub 2018 Aug 10.
Ecological stoichiometry (ES) is an ecological theory used to study the imbalances of chemical elements, ratios, and flux rates among organisms and the environment to better understand nutrient cycling, energy flow, and the role of organisms in ecosystems. Parasitologists can use this framework to study phenomena across biological scales from genomes to ecosystems. By using the common currency of elemental ratios such as carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus, parasitologists are beginning to explicitly link parasite-host interactions to ecosystem dynamics. Thus, ecological stoichiometry provides a framework for studying the feedbacks of parasites on the environment as well as the effects of the environment on parasites and disease.
生态化学计量学（ES）是一种用于研究生物与环境之间化学元素、比例和通量失衡的生态学理论，以更好地理解营养循环、能量流动以及生物在生态系统中的作用。寄生虫学家可以利用这个框架来研究从基因组到生态系统等各种生物尺度的现象。通过使用碳：氮：磷等元素比例的通用货币，寄生虫学家开始将寄生虫-宿主相互作用明确地与生态系统动态联系起来。因此，生态化学计量学为研究寄生虫对环境的反馈以及环境对寄生虫和疾病的影响提供了一个框架。
