The interactions between a host and parasite are one phenomena which can be observed at the genetic level. This book demonstrates that host specific viral genomes can optimize codon usage to successfully parasitise their preferred host. It also presents the mathematical models of host-virus interaction.
This edited volume demonstrates how the latest developments in biogeography (for example in phylogenetics, macroecology, and geographic information systems) can be applied to studies in the evolutionary ecology of host-parasite interactions in order to integrate spatial patterns with ecological theory.
Biologists are increasingly aware of the universal significance of parasites to the study of ecology and evolution where they have become a powerful model system. This book provides a summary of the issues involved as well as an overview of the possibilities offered by this research topic including the practical applications in disease prevention.
Written by leading authorities from the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zeland, this book shows how parasites have evolved numerous complex and fascinating ways of interacting with their hosts. It covers ecology, behavioural biology, as well as the more applied aspects of parasitology.
Parasites are among the most serious threats for any organism. This book brings together the latest knowledge from different fields and traces the basic ecological and evolutionary principles behind the eternal and momentous struggle between hosts and their parasites, providing a synthesis of current understanding.
Parasites have become a powerful model system for the study of ecology and evolution, with practical applications in disease prevention. This work presents an evolutionary framework for the study of parasite biology, combining theory with empirical examples for a broader understanding of why parasites are as they are and do what they do.
Contains comprehensive reviews in various areas of contemporary parasitology. This title includes medical studies on parasites of major influence, such as Plasmodium falciparum and trypanosomes. It also contains reviews of more traditional areas, such as zoology, taxonomy, and life history, which shape thinking and applications.
Parasitoids are employed in biological control programs worldwide to kill insect pests and are environmentally safe and benign alternatives to chemical pesticides. This book features sections on both symbiotic viruses that are integrated into the wasp's chromosomal DNA that play critical roles in suppressing host immunity during parasitism.
Parasites can: rewrite DNA; rewire the brain; genetically engineer viruses as weapons; and turn healthy hosts into the living dead. This book follows researchers as they penetrate the mysteries of these omnipotent creatures who control evolution, ecxosystems, and perhaps the future of mankind.
This volume presents ecological consequences and evolutionary mechanisms that may be associated with behavioural alterations in parasitized hosts. Alterations may result from natural selection favouring the host or parasite, or side-effects caused by physiological changes associated with symbiosis.