Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11455 Saskatchewan Drive Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Parasitology. 2023 Sep;150(10):934-938. doi: 10.1017/S0031182023000744. Epub 2023 Aug 11.
The mere presence of predators or parasites can negatively impact the fitness of prey or hosts. Exposure to predators during an organism's development can have deleterious effects on juvenile survival and the subsequent adult stage. Currently, it is unknown if parasites have analogous impacts on host larval stages and whether these effects carry over into other subsequent life stages. However, parasites may be exerting widespread yet underestimated non-consumptive effects (NCEs). We tested if larvae avoid pupating near mite cues (caged ) in arena experiments, and measured the rate of pupation in arenas with mites and arenas without mites. Larvae disproportionately pupated on the side of arenas that lacked mite cues. Furthermore, fewer larvae successfully pupated in arenas containing mites cues compared to arenas without mite cues. We found that ectoparasitic mites exert NCEs on larvae, even though the larval stage is not susceptible to infection. We discuss these results in the context of parasite impacts on host population growth in an infectious world.
捕食者或寄生虫的存在会对猎物或宿主的适应性产生负面影响。生物在发育过程中暴露于捕食者之下会对幼体的存活和随后的成年阶段产生有害影响。目前尚不清楚寄生虫是否对宿主幼虫阶段产生类似的影响，以及这些影响是否会延续到其他后续生命阶段。然而，寄生虫可能会产生广泛但被低估的非消耗性影响（NCEs）。我们通过在竞技场实验中检测幼虫是否避免在螨类提示（笼养）附近化蛹，以及在有螨类和没有螨类的竞技场中测量化蛹的速度，来检验这一假设。幼虫不成比例地在缺乏螨类提示的竞技场一侧化蛹。此外，与没有螨类提示的竞技场相比，含有螨类提示的竞技场中成功化蛹的幼虫数量较少。我们发现，即使幼虫阶段不易受到感染，外寄生螨类也会对幼虫产生非消耗性影响。我们在一个易感染的世界中讨论了这些结果对宿主种群增长的影响。
