Linking host personality and parasitic infection: a meta-analysis
Anna Pia Piscitelli, Simone Messina, Lucas Armand Wauters, Francesca Santicchia, Erik Matthysen, Herwig Leirs, Bram Vanden Broecke
This paper conducts a meta-analysis of 226 effect sizes from 80 studies to examine how host personality traits relate to parasitic infection, finding that experimental infections reduce activity and exploration, while observational studies show activity-exploration correlates with infection risk.
bioRxiv · Jun 30, 2025 · PreprintAnimal Behavior & Cognition