Evolutionary Ecology - Infectious disease

Volume 37, issue 1, February 2023 (this opens in a new tab)

Issue editors:  Jessica Hite, Stuart Auld

How hosts respond to and cope with infectious agents can change the environment and in so doing, alter selective pressures and evolutionary trajectories. To date, such eco-evolutionary feedbacks are best known from simplified mathematical models and laboratory experiments with a limited number of genetically homogenous model systems. However, the extent to which ecology and (co)-evolution interact to shape disease over space and time in natural communities remains poorly understood. Studies in this theme issue break new ground by integrating empirical and field studies stemming from a diverse array of taxa and ecosystems to understand how ecological and evolutionary feedbacks shape host-parasite interactions. Contributing papers synthesize emerging research and diverse perspectives on pathogen life history, virulence, resistance, leveraging novel methodological advances and integrating infection processes across multiple scales of biological organization. Two key take-aways emerge from this theme issue. First, more research tackling the eco-evolutionary dynamics of infectious disease in truly multi-species contexts is needed. Second, while we are far from understanding eco-evolutionary dynamics in the ‘natural theater’ where hosts encounter their parasites, exciting advances and foundational studies provide a well-defined road map.

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