TY - JOUR

T1 - Complex networks of parasites and pollinators

T2 - moving towards a healthy balance

AU - Brown, Mark J F

PY - 2022/6/20

Y1 - 2022/6/20

N2 - Parasites are viewed as a major threat to wild pollinator health. While this may be true for epidemics driven by parasite spillover from managed or invasive species, the picture is more complex for endemic parasites. Wild pollinator species host and share a species-rich, generalist parasite commu- nity. In contrast to the negative health impacts that these parasites impose on individual hosts, at a community level they may act to reduce compe- tition from common and abundant pollinator species. By providing rare species with space in which to exist, this will act to support and maintain a diverse and thus healthier pollinator community. At this level, and per- haps paraxodically, parasites may be good for pollinators. This stands in clear contrast to the obvious negative impacts of epidemic and spillover parasites on wild pollinator communities. Research into floral resources that control parasites could be best employed to help design landscapes that provide pollinators with the opportunity to moderate their parasite community, rather than attempting to eliminate specific parasites from wild pollinator communities.

AB - Parasites are viewed as a major threat to wild pollinator health. While this may be true for epidemics driven by parasite spillover from managed or invasive species, the picture is more complex for endemic parasites. Wild pollinator species host and share a species-rich, generalist parasite commu- nity. In contrast to the negative health impacts that these parasites impose on individual hosts, at a community level they may act to reduce compe- tition from common and abundant pollinator species. By providing rare species with space in which to exist, this will act to support and maintain a diverse and thus healthier pollinator community. At this level, and per- haps paraxodically, parasites may be good for pollinators. This stands in clear contrast to the obvious negative impacts of epidemic and spillover parasites on wild pollinator communities. Research into floral resources that control parasites could be best employed to help design landscapes that provide pollinators with the opportunity to moderate their parasite community, rather than attempting to eliminate specific parasites from wild pollinator communities.

M3 - Article

VL - 377

JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences

JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8436

IS - 1853

M1 - 20210161

ER -