This area is the research interest of Dr I. Barber and Hazel Wright. Additional information on these workers and their research can be found on the Group Members Main Page . The pictures interspersed on this page illustrate some of the aspects of the research done in this area by this group.
Parasites tend to be smaller than their hosts, and benefit at their expense.
Because parasites by definition cause some degree of harm to their host organisms, the effects they have frequently reduce host fitness, by reducing host survival prospects or reproductive capacity. The basic requirements for the maintenance of a parasite species within any particular host population are the availability of susceptible host organisms, an ecological regime that permits a sufficiently high frequency of transmission between hosts and suitable physical and chemical conditions for the survival of any free-living stages in the life cycle. As such, the dynamics of parasite growth and transmission, as well as the range and diversity of species parasitic within any particular host group, will depend on local ecological conditions. In the latter cases, parasite phenotypes that in some way enhance the likelihood that their current host will be transmitted to a susceptible successive host will be at a selective advantage, and one way in which transmission may be facilitate is by influencing host behaviour. Identifying the ultimate ecological and evolutionary consequences of parasite induced behavioural change, and determining the mechanisms by which such changes are achieved, remain challenges for ecological parasitology.