Month: September 2022

EXTENDED PHENOTYPE. "In an evolutionary context, changes in host behaviour upon parasite infection are examples of an extended phenotype, a concept introduced by Dawkins (1982). He stated that the observed host phenotype is a consequence of a parasite’s gene being expressed." https://lnkd.in/e4DPgex View in LinkedIn

PARASITIC HACKING. "Parasitic manipulation can be defined as the alteration by the parasite of a host phenotypic trait in a way that enhances the parasite’s probability of transmission and survival." Lovely review of biochemistry and genetics of parasite manipulation of host behavior. https://lnkd.in/e4DPgex View in LinkedIn

CO-EVOLUTION. "Many parasite-induced behavioral changes may be the product of coevolution between hosts and parasites, but the extent to which specific alterations can be considered adaptive is frequently debated. The evolutionary arms race between parasites and hosts involves a series of adaptations and counter-adaptations. Parasite-induced behavioral changes in a host are considered adaptive when the behaviors have evolved to increase the fitness of either the host or the parasite." https://lnkd.in/e4MsheB View in LinkedIn

PARASITES "have a predilection for the ‘immunologically privileged’ site of the central nervous system because it shelters them from the full fury of the host’s immune system. However, this location also provides a parasite with direct ‘access to the machinery’ to alter host behaviour." The brain, eye and testes are also immunologically privileged sites. https://lnkd.in/evYSDdS View in LinkedIn

"THE PARASITOID WASP Glyptapanteles lays its eggs, about 80 at a time, in young geometrid caterpillars. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the caterpillar's body fluids. When they are fully developed, they eat through the caterpillar's skin, attach themselves to a nearby branch or leaf and wrap themselves up in a cocoon." https://lnkd.in/epZss3y View in LinkedIn

CONSCRIPTED BODYGUARDS. "Some parasites turn their host into a bodyguard to ensure the protection of the parasite from enemies ... Thyrinteina leucocerae caterpillars protect pupae of the braconid parasitoid Glyptapanteles ... Once the parasitoid larvae leave the host to pupate, the host defends the pupae by knocking off predators with violent head-swings, resulting in reduced mortality rates of the parasitoid pupae." https://lnkd.in/e2g9KSe View in LinkedIn

COERCED INTO HOME BUILDING. "Parasitic wasps can also make the host weave a special cocoon-like structure to protect the wasp pupae [offspring] against heavy rain." https://lnkd.in/ee8uBmA View in LinkedIn

PARASITE COMPETITION FOR HOSTS. "The presence of one parasite might prevent infection or manipulation by another parasite. Wolbachia, for example, has been reported to reduce or increase the susceptibility of its host to virus infections." https://lnkd.in/e2g9KSe View in LinkedIn

THE COCKROACH "can be parasitized by the parasitoid Moniliformis moniliformis, leading to increased locomotion activity ... the same cockroach species can be parasitized by the tropical wasp Ampulex compressa, inducing a zombie-like state and preventing it from any spontaneous locomotion. These parasites may have conflicting interests, and in case of coparasitation, this might be expressed in different manipulation patterns than for singly infected hosts." https://lnkd.in/e2g9KSe View in LinkedIn

MY EPITAPH. "The more I study nature, the more I become impressed […] that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations [acquired through natural selection] transcend in an incomparable degree [those] which the most fertile imagination of the most imaginative man could suggest with unlimited time at his disposal." (Charles Darwin). https://lnkd.in/eykUy37 View in LinkedIn