Patterns and processes in communities of heirninth parasites

Abstract

What processes account for the structure and dynamics of helminth parasite assemblages within vertebrate and invertebrate hosts? Attempts to answer this question form the basis for the emerging subdiscipline of parasite community ecology. Negative interspecific interactions strongly affect the distribution and abundance of parasites in some systems, but only intermittently, if ever, in others. Empirical results provide only mixed support for recent theories that attempt to explain this variation.