On the Relationship between Social Status of Host and Risk of Parasitic Infection

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Abstract
The observation that many parasites are transmitted in the food chain and that dominant host individuals take most of the food, lead to the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between high status of host and risk of infection (contact) with such parasites. The hypothesis was tested in the field using reindeer and the nematode Elaphostrongylus rangiferi as a model system. In a reindeer herd with subclinical infections, the heaviest calves (i.e. the calves of dominant mothers) were those which were infected. This is in accordance with the hypothesis. This relationship between dominant hosts and parasites may lower the overall pathogenicity of the parasite relative to that which could be observed with random transmission. This would also result in increased suppression of host population growth, counteract inbreeding within the dominant segment of the population, and act as a mechanism of stabilizing selection.