Available online 10 September 2022, 108378

Abstract

Host and parasite traits that are sensitive to environmental perturbations merit special attention in the mitigation of diseases. While life table experiments allow a practical evaluation of variability of these traits with environmental change, they are cost and resource intensive. Here, we use a model snail host-trematode parasite system to test the efficacy of an expeditious alternative. Rapidly changing host traits (such as juvenile growth rate) can be used as effective predictors of parasite transmission potential across a range of environmental factors. This approach can be applied to anticipate epidemiological changes under diverse environmental scenarios.

Section snippetsAuthor statement

Naima Starkloff: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal Analysis, Data Curation, Writing- Original Draft, Writing- Review & Editing, Visualization. Rachel Hartman: Investigation, Data Curation, Writing- Review & Editing, Supervision. David Civitello: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing- Review & Editing, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the authors of the seven published articles whose initial experiments made the compilation of this paper possible. NCS, DJC and RBH are supported on a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant R01-AI150774.

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