Parasitic castration: the evolution and ecology of body snatchers

Castration is a response to the tradeoff between consumption and longevity faced by parasites. Common parasitic castrators include larval trematodes in snails, and isopod and barnacle parasites of crustaceans. The infected host (with its many unique properties) is the extended phenotype of the paras...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTrends in parasitology Vol. 25; no. 12; pp. 564 - 572
Main Authors Lafferty, Kevin D., Kuris, Armand M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2009
Elsevier
Subjects
Alveolata - physiology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Ecosystem
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Host-Parasite Interactions - physiology
Infectious Disease
Invertebrates - parasitology
Invertebrates - physiology
Isopoda
Marine
Phenotype
Population Density
Reproduction - physiology
Parasite
Parasitic castration
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Summary:Castration is a response to the tradeoff between consumption and longevity faced by parasites. Common parasitic castrators include larval trematodes in snails, and isopod and barnacle parasites of crustaceans. The infected host (with its many unique properties) is the extended phenotype of the parasitic castrator. Because an individual parasitic castrator can usurp all the reproductive energy from a host, and that energy is limited, intra- and interspecific competition among castrators is generally intense. These parasites can be abundant and can substantially depress host density. Host populations subject to high rates of parasitic castration appear to respond by maturing more rapidly.
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ISSN:1471-4922
1471-5007
1471-5007
DOI:10.1016/j.pt.2009.09.003