Using Within-Host Parasite Population Dynamics to Calculate Optimal Parasite Growth Rate: Linking Transmission, Added Mortality, and Host Recovery Rates

Michael Gilchrist (Dept. of Zoology, Duke University)

７月１３日　（木）　午後１：３０から
理学部3号館　６階 　数理生物学セミナー室

Natural selection will favor the evolution of ever increasing added mortality if there is a sublinear relationship between transmission and added mortality. However, little work has mechanistically explored what this relationship between transmission and added mortality should look like. By modeling the dynamics of a parasite population within a host and then linking these dynamics to transmission and added mortality, we can identify potential sources of non-linearity. Our work indicates that a sublinear relationship between transmission and added mortality is generally the most feasible situation.