title: A three-way perspective of stoichiometric changes on host-parasite interactions.
abstract: Changes in environmental nutrients play a crucial role in driving disease dynamics, but global patterns in nutrient-driven changes in disease are difficult to predict. In this paper we use ecological stoichiometry as a framework to review host-parasite interactions under changing nutrient ratios, focusing on three pathways: (i) altered host resistance and parasite virulence through host stoichiometry (ii) changed encounter or contact rates at population level, and (iii) changed host community structure. We predict that the outcome of nutrient changes on host-parasite interactions depends on which pathways are modified, and suggest that the outcome of infection could depend on the overlap in stoichiometric requirements of the host and the parasite. We hypothesize that environmental nutrient enrichment alters infectivity dynamics leading to fluctuating selection dynamics in host-parasite coevolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland. Electronic address: sanni.lh.aalto@jyu.fi.
authors.forename: Sanni L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Aalto
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Aquatic Biology, Department of Biology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Kulak, Etienne Sabbelaan 53, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Decaestecker
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pulkkinen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004463:Ecology; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
keywords: ecological stoichiometry; host–parasite coevolution; infection dynamics; nutrient ratios; resource quality