Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Social status and parasitism in male and female vertebrates: a meta-analysis.

Scientific Reports 2018 Februrary 27
Social status is an important predictor of parasite risk in vertebrates. To date, general frameworks to explain status-related variation in parasitism have remained elusive. In this meta-analysis, we evaluated five hypotheses proposed to explain status-related variation in parasitism in male and female vertebrates by leveraging variation in hierarchy type, mating system, parasite transmission mode, and allostatic load to test associated predictions. Our meta-analyses span 66 analyses (26 studies) of male vertebrates (two orders and five classes), and 62 analyses (13 studies) of female vertebrates (four vertebrate orders). Contrary to the prevailing paradigm that low status is linked to poor health, we found that dominant animals typically faced higher parasite risk than subordinates. This pattern was especially well-supported in analyses of males versus females, in linear versus egalitarian hierarchies, in mating systems where dominance rank predicts mating effort, and for contact- and environmentally-transmitted parasites rather than vector-borne parasites. These findings supported the priority-of-access and tradeoffs hypotheses suggesting that variation in parasitism is driven by rank-associated differences in exposure to parasites and mating effort. Together, these results suggest that high parasite risk might sometimes be an unappreciated cost of high rank, and conversely, reduced parasite risk might be a benefit of social subordination.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app