CROSS-SCALE FEEDBACKS

The production, development, and clearance of parasites within individual hosts fundamentally shapes the transmission and spread of parasites among hosts. These cross-scale dynamics modulate the ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions — with implications for both basic and applied biology.

To better understand how nutritional resources affect these cross-scale and bidirectional feedbacks my research focuses on fIVE key meta-themes:

·       What are the nutritional, physiological, and molecular underpinnings that govern host defenses?

·       How do hosts alter their intake and allocation of nutritional resources during infection and what are the consequences for parasite life history (development, production, transmission) and host life history traits (growth, fecundity, survival)?

·       How do these individual-level processes scale-up to affect population-level outcomes (e.g., the evolution of parasite virulence, the density, demography, and stability of host populations)?

·       Can we learn from how hosts alter their intake and allocation of resources during infection to inform both biomedical and veterinary approaches to disease and population management?

Collaborators

Dr. Clay Cressler (University of Nebraska)

Dr. Spencer Hall (Indiana University)

Dr. James Vonesh (Virginia Commonwealth University)

Dr. Jaime Bosch (Museum of Natural History, Madrid, Spain)

Dr. André de Roos (University of Amsterdam)

Associated Publications

Hite J.L., A. Pfenning, and C.E. Cressler. In press. Starving the Enemy? Feeding behavior shapes host-parasite interactions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Hite J.L. and C.E. Cressler. In press. Parasite-mediated anorexia, dietary context, and the evolution of virulence. Integrated and Comparative Biology.

Hite. J.L., M. C. Hughey, K.M. Warkentin, and J.R. Vonesh. Cross-ecosystem effects of terrestrial predators link tree frogs, zooplankton, and aquatic primary production. 2018. Ecosphere.

Hite J.L. and C.E. Cressler. Resource-driven changes to host population stability alter the evolution of virulence and transmission. 2018. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B. pdf

Hite J.L. R. M. Penczykowski, M. S. Shocket, K. Griebel*, A.T. Strauss, M. A. Duffy, C. E. Cáceres, and S.R. Hall. 2017. Allocation, not male resistance, increases male frequency during epidemics: a case study in facultatively-sexual hosts. Ecology. 98(11), 2773-2783. pdf

Hite J.L., R. M. Penczykowski, M. S. Shocket, A.T. Strauss, M. A. Duffy, C. E. Cáceres, and S.R. Hall. 2016. Parasites destabilize host populations by shifting stage-structured interaction. Ecology 97: 439-449. pdf

Strauss A.T., M.S. Shocket, D.J. Civitello, J.L. Hite, R.M. Penczykowski, M.A. Duffy, C.E. Cáceres, and S.R. Hall. 2016. Habitat, predators, and hosts regulate disease in Daphnia through direct and indirect pathways. Ecological Monographs 86: 393-411. pdf

Hite, J.L., S. Fernández-Beaskoetxea, D.C. Medina, J. Bosch, and S.R. Hall. 2016. Joint effects of habitat, predators, host stage structure, and diversity on amphibian chytrid. Proc. Roy. Soc. London B. 283. pdf

COMING SOON!

Orlando, P.A., Hite. J.L., and Spencer R. Hall. Disease as a cause of cohort cycles: theory for disease in a physiologically structured host population. In revision 

Orlando, P.A., Hite. J.L.. Stage structure increases opportunities for fluctuation-dependent coexistence. In revision

Hite J.L., R. M. Penczykowski, D. J. Civitello, M. S. Shocket, A. T. Strauss, M. A. Duffy, C. E. Cáceres, and S. R. Hall. Parasite-mediated changes to host feeding ecology and stage-structure shape host demography. In revision