Host phenology drives the evolution of intermediate parasite virulence
1AbstractMechanistic trade-offs between transmission and virulence are the foundation of current theory on the evolution of parasite virulence. Empirical evidence supporting these trade-offs in natural systems remains elusive, suggesting other factors could drive virulence evolution in the absence of a mechanistic trade-off. Several ecological factors modulate the optimal virulence strategies predicted from mechanistic trade-off models but none have been sufficient to explain the intermediate virulence strategies observed in most natural systems. The timing of seasonal activities, or phenology, is a common factor that influences the types and impact of many ecological interactions but is rarely considered in virulence evolution studies. We develop a mathematical model of a disease system with seasonal host activity to study the evolutionary consequences of host phenology on parasite virulence. Seasonal host activity is sufficient to drive the evolution of intermediate parasite virulence in the absence of traditional mechanistic trade-offs. The optimal virulence strategy is determined by both the duration of the host activity period as well as the variation in the host emergence timing. Parasites with low virulence strategies are favored in environments with long host activity periods and in environments in which all hosts emerge synchronously. These results demonstrate that host phenology may be sufficient, in the absence of mechanistic trade-offs, to select for intermediate optimal virulence strategies in some natural systems.