Ecology: The Biology of Interactions. 4.12. Parasitism
True parasites are very tightly associated with their hosts. They live inside hosts or are firmly attached to host surfaces. The host is the habitat for parasites or its key component. Usually, during life (or one life-cycle stage), a parasite is associated with one host. To exploit a host, parasites do not necessarily need to kill it...
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April 11. Predation
D. Shabanov, M. Kravchenko. Ecology: Biology of Interaction. Chapter 4. Population Ecology
4.13. Competition and ecological niches
4.12. Parasitism True parasites are very closely associated with their hosts. They live inside the host's body or feed on its tissues without killing it, at least for some time. Unlike predators, parasites generally have long-term contact with their prey. This parasitism has developed a very special reproductive strategy – they are significantly limited in size and often require direct contact with both the host and each other for reproduction. From time to time, parasites are generally species-specific: some parasites specialize only on humans, others only on a specific type of livestock or wild animal. This means that a parasite usually depends on its host more than the host depends on the parasite. Thus, if the host goes extinct, the parasite also disappears. Parasites live in three main ways within the host's body: either in its gastrointestinal tract, or in the blood, or in the tissues. Forget about the host's immune system, which often evolves to obtain "weapons" against parasites, which, in turn, evolve to develop advantages in fighting these "weapons." This process is usually called an "arms race." Some parasites, such as malaria mosquitoes (genus Anopheles), carry disease pathogens. Other parasites (e.g., ascarids, genus Ascaris) are worms that live in the intestines. Tapeworms (class Cestoidea) also live in the intestines. Scorpions, suckerfish (family Loricariidae), and others are also parasites.