Parasitoid competition and the dynamics of host-parasitoid models

Abstract

Both parasitoids and predators compete intraspecifically for prey or hosts. The nature of this competition, however, is potentially much more complex and varied for parasitoids than for predators. With predators, prey are generally consumed upon capture and thus cease to be bones of contention: competition is simply for discovery (or capture) of prey. In contrast, parasitoids do not consume hosts immediately upon discovery; the hosts remain available to be discovered-and possibly parasitized-again. An individual parasitoid's reproduction from a particular host generally depends, therefore, on whether the host has already been, or is subsequently, discovered by another female; that is, there is competition for exploitation of individual hosts (within-host competition) as well as for their discovery (across-hosts competition).

Citation

Taylor, Andrew D. 1988. Parasitoid competition and the dynamics of host-parasitoid models. The American Naturalist, Vol. 132(3): 417-436