OOS 60
Parasites in Trophic Networks: Complex Life Cycles, Coinfection Dynamics, and Community Structure

Thursday, August 13, 2015: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
315, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Anieke Van Leeuwen
Co-organizers:
Carrie A. Cizauskas and Andy P. Dobson
Moderator:
Anieke Van Leeuwen
The majority of trophic interactions in natural systems are parasitic interactions. The dynamical and structuring roles of parasites in ecosystems, both inside individual hosts and within entire ecological communities, have, however, remained elusive. Parasites often exhibit complex life cycles, inherently linking potentially independent components in ecosystems. Parasites also impact their host species through various mechanisms, including increasing host mortality, immunomodulation, causing host castration, and the competitive use of host resources. The first focus places parasites in the center of trophic network structures, while the second focus views parasites as integral actors in internal host dynamics. In both cases, parasites’ roles in trophic network dynamics and structure are of interest ecologically and evolutionarily. Parasites and parasite-host dynamics are at the heart of epidemiology and much of ecology. In this session, we place the ecological implications of parasite-host, within-host, and trophic interactions including parasites in the context of ecosystem dynamics and structure. This session connects the role of parasitism from the level of individual hosts (looking at within-host food webs and co-infection dynamics), to the level of population dynamics, up to the level of entire ecosystems (focusing on food webs including parasites). We explore current insights and future directions regarding how parasites contribute to the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of communities, be it the community of within-host immune cells and parasites, or communities at the level of ecosystems. Aside from promising an extremely interesting discussion on the role of parasites in ecology, this session offers a broad integration of our ecological view on parasites as players in extended networks.
8:00 AM
8:20 AM
Parasites alter freshwater communities by modifying behavior of invasive crayfish hosts
Lindsey Sargent Reisinger, University of Notre Dame; David M. Lodge, University of Notre Dame
8:40 AM
Elemental changes along a temporal and spatial gradient: Does it impact Daphnia-parasite interactions?
Lien Reyserhove, Aquatic Biology; Jessie Engelen, KU Leuven; Kristien Brans, KU Leuven; Luc De Meester, KU Leuven; Ellen Decaestecker, KU Leuven Kulak
9:00 AM
The contributions of parasites to diversity, energetics, and food web structure across systems
John P. McLaughlin, University of California at Santa Barbara
9:20 AM
Identifying mechanisms driving assembly of parasite communities within hosts
Patrick A. Clay, Rice University; Volker H.W. Rudolf, Rice University
9:40 AM
9:50 AM
Parasite as a leading indicator for the healthy ecosystem
Hsuan-Wien Chen, National Chiayi University; Wei-chung Liu, Academia Sinica
10:10 AM
Within-host parasite interactions and the consequences of targeted drug treatment: Insights from a wild mammal system
Sarah Knowles, Imperial College London; Godefroy Devevey, University of Edinburgh; Owen L. Petchey, University of Zurich; Andy Fenton, University of Liverpool; Amy B. Pedersen, University of Edinburgh
10:30 AM
Within-host ecology and drug resistance in malaria infections
Nicole Mideo, University of Toronto; Jeffrey A Bailey, University of Massachusetts; Nicholas J Hathaway, University of Massachusetts; Andrew F. Read, The Pennsylvania State University; Jonathan J Juliano, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
10:50 AM Cancelled
OOS 60-9
Host as ecosystem: Networks of internal host-parasite interactions (widthdrawn)
Carrie A. Cizauskas, Princeton University; Anieke Van Leeuwen, Princeton University; Andy P. Dobson, Princeton University; Wayne M. Getz, University of California Berkeley
11:10 AM
The general consumer-resource model
Kevin Lafferty, US Geological Survey; Giulio De Leo, Stanford University; Cheryl J. Briggs, University of California, Santa Barbara; Andrew P. Dobson, Princeton University; Thilo Gross, University of Bristol; Armand Kuris, University of California, Santa Barbara