Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies

Nonlethal Parasite Infections Can Lead to a Greener World

Mechanistic model framework for testing how effects of parasites on the survival (αS), fecundity (αF), and resource intake (αI) of herbivorous hosts affect the population (biomass) dynamics of parasites, free-living parasite propagules, hosts, and producers. Arrows indicate fluxes between compartments, and rates written next to arrows are per capita of the compartment where the arrow begins. Dashed lines indicate life-cycle transitions for the parasite.

May 14, 2022

In their recent PNAS paper, YIBS affiliate & EEB Professor Vanessa Ezenwa et.al report on how sublethal parasitic infections can decrease herbivory rates, thus triggering cascades that negatively affect plant communities and surrounding ecology.

News & Updates

Edward P. Bass Distinguished Lecture: The World Without Evolution? with Andrew Hendry

April 23, 2025

Dear YIBS community, Please join us in attending the Edward P. Bass Distinguished Lecture: The World Without Evolution? with Andrew Hendry Date: Wednesday, April 23rd from...

Mixodectes pungens, small mammals that inhabited western North America 62 million years ago, weighed about 3 pounds, dwelled in trees, and largely dined on leaves. Illustration by Andrey Atuchin

A 62-million-year-old skeleton sheds light on an enigmatic mammal

March 11, 2025

For more than 140 years, Mixodectes pungens, a species of small mammal that inhabited western North America in the early Paleocene, was a mystery. What little was known about...

Fish at center of key conservation fight not a distinct species after all

January 3, 2025

In the late-1970s, a small freshwater fish known as the snail darter made history when its newly acquired status as an endangered species helped to temporarily block...

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