title: Temperature rise and parasitic infection interact to increase the impact of an invasive species.
abstract: Invasive species often detrimentally impact native biota, e.g. through predation, but predicting such impacts is difficult due to multiple and perhaps interacting abiotic and biotic context dependencies. Higher mean and peak temperatures, together with parasites, might influence the impact of predatory invasive host species additively, synergistically or antagonistically. Here, we apply the comparative functional response methodology (relationship between resource consumption rate and resource supply) in one experiment and conduct a second scaled-up mesocosm experiment to assess any differential predatory impacts of the freshwater invasive amphipod Gammarus pulex, when uninfected and infected with the acanthocephalan Echinorhynchus truttae, at three temperatures representative of current and future climate. Individual G. pulex showed Type II predatory functional responses. In both experiments, infection was associated with higher maximum feeding rates, which also increased with increasing temperatures. Additionally, infection interacted with higher temperatures to synergistically elevate functional responses and feeding rates. Parasitic infection also generally increased Q10values. We thus suggest that the differential metabolic responses of the host and parasite to increasing temperatures drives the synergy between infection and temperature, elevating feeding rates and thus enhancing the ecological impact of the invader.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, MBC, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 7BL, UK.
authors.forename: Ciaran
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Laverty
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Parasitology, Institute of Zoology, School of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, MBC, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 7BL, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McIlwaine
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, MBC, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 7BL, UK.
authors.forename: Jack J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lennon
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, MBC, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 7BL, UK. Electronic address: j.dick@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jaimie T A
authors.initials: JTA
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability, Department of Environmental Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland.
authors.forename: Frances E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Lucy
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia.
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Christian
mesh_terms: D000049:Acanthocephala / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D033304:Amphipoda / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D057231:Climate Change; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000469:parasitology; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D058865:Introduced Species; D008297:Male; D009660:Northern Ireland; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D045483:Rivers / Q000469:parasitology; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Climate change; Ecological impact; Invasive species; Parasitic infection; Temperature