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- Title
PARASITE FACILITATES PLANT SPECIES COEXISTENCE IN A COASTAL WETLAND.
- Authors
Grewell, Brenda J.
- Abstract
Outbreaks of infectious agents in natural ecosystems are on the rise. Understanding host-pathogen interactions and their impact on community composition may be central to the conservation of biological diversity. Infectious agents can convey both exploitive and facilitative effects that regulate host populations and community structure. Parasitic angiosperms are highly conspicuous in many plant communities, and they provide a tractable model for understanding parasite effects in multispecies communities. I examined host identity and variation in host infectivity of a holoparasitic vine (Cuscuta sauna) within a California salt marsh. In a two-year parasite removal experiment, I measured the effect of C. sauna on its most frequent host, a rare hemiparasite, and the plant community. C. sauna clearly suppressed the dominant host, but rare plant fitness and plant species diversity were enhanced through indirect effects. Priority effects played a role in the strength of the outcome due to the timing of life history characteristics. The differential influence of parasites on the fecundity of multiple hosts can change population dynamics, benefit rare species, and alter community structure. The continuum of negative to positive consequences of parasitic interactions deserves more attention if we are to understand community dynamics and successfully restore tidal wetlands.
- Subjects
CALIFORNIA; PARASITES; PLANT species; WETLANDS; BIOTIC communities; ANGIOSPERMS; SALT marshes
- Publication
Ecology, 2008, Vol 89, Issue 6, p1481
- ISSN
0012-9658
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1890/07-0896.1