Understanding the persistence of specialists and generalists within ecological communities is a topical research question, with far-reaching consequences for the maintenance of functional diversity. Although theoretical studies indicate that restricted conditions may be necessary to achieve co-occurrence of specialists and generalists, analyses of larger empirical (and species-rich) communities...

Understanding how parasites are transmitted to new species is of great importance for human health, agriculture and conservation. However, it is still unclear why some parasites are shared by many species, while others have only one host. Using a new measure of 'phylogenetic host specificity', we find that most primate parasites with more than one host are phylogenetic generalists, infecting le...

The relationship between plants and insects is influenced by insects' behavioral decisions during foraging and oviposition. In mutualistic pollinators and antagonistic herbivores, past experience (learning) affects such decisions, which ultimately can impact plant fitness. The higher levels of dietary generalism in pollinators than in herbivores may be an explanation for the differences in lear...

Studying resource specialization at the individual level can identify factors constraining the evolution of generalism. We quantified genotypic and phenotypic variability among infective stages of 20 clones of the parasitic trematode Maritrema novaezealandensis and measured their infection success and post-infection fitness (growth, egg output) in several crabs and amphipods. First, different c...

A standard framework for business ethics views the inquiry as an application of major ethical theories to specific issues in business. As these are largely presented being principled, exercise therefore becomes one applying general principles situations. Many adopting this approach have thus resisted implementation most prominent development theory recent history: that particularism. In article...

Abstract In this article I defend what call a ‘particularist approach to arguments by analogy.’ Particularism is opposed generalism, which the thesis that analogy require universal principle covers cases compared and guarantees conclusion. rejects claim holds operate on particular cases. elaborate two ideas support position. On one hand, contend an can be seen as parallelism of argumentative re...