The deer ked (Lipoptena cervi) can fail in its host search. Host search fails when an individual deer ked irreversibly accepts a host unsuitable for its reproduction (e.g. a human) and drops its wings. In northern Europe, the main host of the deer ked is the moose (Alces alces). The deer ked is increasingly causing serious problems for humans (for example, causing deer ked dermatitis) and is co...

Coevolutionary interactions between plants and their associated pollinators and seed dispersers are thought to have promoted the diversification of flowering plants (Raven 1977; Regal 1977; Stebbins 1981). The actual mechanisms by which pollinators could drive species diversification in plants are not fully understood. However, it is thought that pollinator host specialization can influence the...

Behavioral tactics play a crucial role in the evolution of species and are likely to be found in host-parasitoid interactions where host quality may differ between host developmental stages. We investigated foraging decisions, parasitism and related fitness in a gregarious ectoparasitoid, Sclerodermus harmandi in relation to two distinct host developmental stages: larvae and pupae. Two colonies...

Testing the host specificity of potential agents is an important part of biocontrol methodology. An understanding of the behavioral processes involved in selection of a host plant can be used to improve the accuracy of host specificity testing by biocontrol practitioners and others interested in predicting field host use. These behavioral processes include the sequential nature of host selectio...

Shared ride systems match the travel demand of transport clients with the supply by vehicles, or hosts, such that the clients find rides to their destinations. A peer-to-peer shared ride system allows clients to find rides in an ad-hoc manner, by negotiating directly with nearby hosts via radio-based communication. Such a peer-to-peer shared ride system has to deal with various types of hosts, ...

We investigate patch selection strategies of hosts and parasitoids in heterogeneous environments. Previous theoretical work showed that when host traits vary among patches, coevolved populations of hosts and parasitoids make congruent choices (i.e., hosts and parasitoids preferentially select the same patches) and exhibit direct density dependence in the distribution of percent parasitism. Howe...