Niche theory for within-host parasite dynamics: Analogies to food web modules via feedback loops

Abstract

Why do parasites exhibit a wide dynamical range within their hosts? For instance, why can a parasite only sometimes successfully infect its host? Why do some parasites exhibit large fluctuations? Why do two parasites coinfect, exclude each other, or win only sometimes over another (via priority effects)? For insights, we turn to food webs. An omnivory model (IGP) blueprints one parasite competing with immune cells for host energy (PIE), and a competition model (keystone predation, KP) mirrors a new coinfection model (2PIE). We then draw analogies between models using feedback loops. We translate those loops into the intraspecific direct (DE) and indirect effects (IE) that create various dynamics. Three points arise. First, a prey or parasite can flip between stable and oscillatory coexistence with their enemy with weakening IE and strengthening DE. Second, even with comparable loop structure, a parasite cannot exhibit priority effects seen in IGP due to constraints imposed by production of immune cells. Third, despite simpler loop structure, KP predicts parallel outcomes in the two-parasite model due to comparable structure of interactions between competing victims and their resources and enemies. Hence, food web models offer powerful if imperfect analogies to feedbacks underlying the dynamical repertoire of parasites within hosts.