A comparative study of parasitism in insects: Why some odonata species have parasites and others do not?

摘要: Parasites are one of the most diverse groups of animals, capable of infecting virtually all other organisms on the planet. They are a strong evolutionary force, influencing genetic diversity and thereby affecting individuals, populations and entire species. Studies of host-parasite interactions have frequently examined how host individuals and their parasites interact, but this focus on the host individual offers a very narrow perspective on the general dynamics of hosts and their parasites. To understand the dynamics of hosts and their parasites on an evolutionary scale, examination has to be moved beyond the individual, to include multiple host species, multiple parasites, and various host species traits.To this end, I decided to expand our knowledge by studying the host-parasite interactions of a large number of damselfly and dragonfly species and their endoand ectoparasites. I evaluated specific physical, behavioral and distributional traits of the host species along with their parasitism in order to understand what traits affect parasitism. In addition, I examined these associations using the known evolutionary tree of the different damselfly and dragonfly hosts. Using this method I was able to get a deeper understanding on the co-evolution between damselflies, dragonflies and their endo-and ectoparasites.