Abstract
Parasites are ecologically ubiquitous and, by modifying the physiology and behavior of their host organisms, act as key regulators of the dynamics and stability of ecosystems. It is, however, as yet unclear how parasitic relationships will act to moderate or accelerate the ecological impacts of global climate change. Here, we explore experimentally how the effects of parasites on both the physiology and behavior of their hosts can be moderated by warming, utilising a well-established aquatic host-parasite model system—the ecologically important amphipod Gammarus duebeni and its acanthocephalan parasite Polymorphus minutus. We show that, while only warming affected measured components of host physiology, parasite infection and warming both supressed predator-avoidance behavior of the host independently, yet in a similar manner. Six degrees of warming altered geotactic behaviors to the same extent as infection with behavior-manipulating parasites. These results indicate a novel mechanism by which parasites impact their ecosystems that could be critical to predicting the ecological impacts of warming. Our findings highlight the need for holistic knowledge of interaction networks, incorporating multiple interaction types and behaviors, to predict the effects of both warming and parasitism on the dynamics and stability of ecosystems.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Paula Tierney, Jérôme Raimbault, and Michelle Kim for their assistance with data collection, and Ruth Kelly, Marcin Penk, and Kevin Healy for their help with statistical analyses. This research was funded through a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship from the Irish Research Council (GOIPG/2014/103).
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Williams, M.A., Holland, C.V. & Donohue, I. Warming can alter host behavior in a similar manner to infection with behavior-manipulating parasites. Oecologia 194, 65–74 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04745-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04745-2