@article{fdi:010061635,
  title = {{C}ompetition, virulence, host body mass and the diversification of macro-parasites},
  author = {{R}ascalou, {G}uilhem and {G}ourbi{\`e}re, {S}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{A}daptive speciation has been much debated in recent years, with a strong emphasis on how competition can lead to the diversification of ecological and sexual traits. {S}urprisingly, little attention has been paid to this evolutionary process to explain intrahost diversification of parasites. {W}e expanded the theory of competitive speciation to look at the effect of key features of the parasite lifestyle, namely fragmentation, aggregation and virulence, on the conditions and rate of sympatric speciation under the standard 'pleiotropic scenario'. {T}he conditions for competitive speciation were found similar to those for non-parasite species, but not the rate of diversification. {A}daptive evolution proceeds faster in highly fragmented parasite populations and for weakly aggregated and virulent parasites. {C}ombining these theoretical results with standard empirical allometric relationships, we showed that parasite diversification can be faster in host species of intermediate body mass. {T}he increase in parasite load with body mass, indeed, fuels evolution by increasing mutants production, but because of the deleterious effect of virulence, it simultaneously weakens selection for resource specialization. {T}hose two antagonistic effects lead to optimal parasite burden and host body mass for diversification. {D}ata on the diversity of fishes' gills parasites were found consistent with the existence of such optimum.},
  keywords = {sympatric speciation ; parasite duplication ; allometry ; metabolic theory},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{J}ournal of the {R}oyal {S}ociety {I}nterface},
  volume = {11},
  numero = {93},
  pages = {art. 93--20131108},
  ISSN = {1742-5689},
  year = {2014},
  DOI = {10.1098/rsif.2013.1108},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010061635},
}