A new study at Tel Aviv University has found that much-maligned parasites can often help their host species to thrive.
The researchers at the university’s School of Zoology and Steinhardt Museum of Natural History studied two species of water fleas in two controlled environments.
One environment was parasite-free, a situation not found in nature, and one had parasites present, as is the case in the natural world.
In the parasite-free habitat, Daphnia magna – a species that is “highly vulnerable to a wide variety of parasites” – was the dominant one, even forcing the disappearance of Daphnia similis – a species with almost total resistance to parasites.
The outcome was almost completely reversed in the environment in which parasites were present, showing that other species can coexist with and even benefit from parasites.
Prof. Frida Ben Ami, who led the study along with Dr. Sigal Orlansky, said that the results have significant implications for obtaining a better understanding of systems in which both sensitive to parasites and less sensitive species to parasites co-exist.
“Parasites and pathogens are an integral part of any ecosystem. Despite their bad reputation, parasites play a key role in shaping population dynamics, community structure, and biodiversity, thanks to their influence on the balance between the species in that ecosystem,” said Orlansky.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
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