Table
3C: Link Type Definitions. LinkID and LinkType are headers for columns 11 and
12 in the links dataset. |
Link Type ID |
Link Type |
Link Type Definition |
1 |
Predation |
A consumer individual that,
within a single lifecycle stage, kills and consumes more than one individual
of the resource (prey) species. Examples: snakes, warblers, clams. |
2 |
Social Predation |
Two or more conspecific
individual predators cooperate to kill and consume a single individual of the
prey species. Examples: wolves, army ants. |
3 |
Micropredation |
A consumer individual that,
within a single lifecycle stage, feeds on more than one resource individual
but does not kill that resource individual (host). Damage to the resource
individual is intensity-dependent; the more micropredators feeding on a resource
individual the greater the resource's loss of fitness. Examples: mosquitoes,
leafhoppers, most butterfly fishes. Micropredators can be important vectors
for pathogens. |
4 |
Parasitic Castration |
A consumer individual blocks the
reproduction of the resource individual (host). Thus, while they reduce host
fitness to zero, parasitic castrators do not necessarily reduce survivorship
of the stolen host body. The effect on the host is intensity-independent in
that there is no additive reproductive effect of additional parasitic
castrators on the host. Examples: digenean trematode parthenitae, bopyrid
isopods, rhizocephalan barnacles, most strepsipterans. |
5 |
Pathogen Infection |
A consumer individual infects a
single resource individual (host) and then multiplies within that host. Death
of the host will ensue unless its defensive mechanisms or external forces
(e.g. other consumers) limit the infection. The effects are intensity-independent,
as the outcome may result from a single infectious agent (or inoculum). These
consumers are appropriately modeled using microparasite models (Anderson and
May, 1979). Examples: smallpox, diphtheria, malaria, lice, scale
insects, Gyrodactylus monogenean
flatworms. |
6 |
Macroparasitism |
A consumer individual infects a
single resource individual (host) and then multiplies within that host. Death
of the host will ensue unless its defensive mechanisms or external forces
(e.g. other consumers) limit the infection. The effects are intensity-independent,
as the outcome may result from a single infectious agent (or inoculum). These
consumers are appropriately modeled using microparasite models (Anderson and
May, 1979). Examples: smallpox, diphtheria, malaria, lice, scale insects,
Gyrodactylus monogenean flatworms.A consumer individual infects an individual
host, does not necessarily cause the death of its host and does not reduce
the fitness of the host to zero. Also it is not trophically transmissible to
other hosts. Impact on the host is intensity-dependent, These consumers are
appropriately modeled using macroparasite models (May and Anderson, 1979).
Examples: adult cestodes, Ichthyopthirius ciliates, corn borers, whip worms,
fleas, most parasitic copepods. |
7 |
Pollination |
An interaction in which a
consumer individual facilitates the fertilization of a resource individual.
The brevity of this interaction distinguishes it from symbiotic (durable)
mutualisms. Examples: bees, hummingbirds. |
8 |
Parasitoid Infection |
A consumer individual kills only
a single resource (host) individual. Its impact on the host is
intensity-independent. Examples: parasitoid wasp larvae, bacteriophages,
insect iridoviruses, pasteurella viruses, nematomorphs. If the host is an
adult, reproduction ceases before host death. |
9 |
Commensalism |
A (non-trophic) interaction
between a symbiont and its individual host, where the symbiont does not
negatively impact host fitness. Examples: clausidiid copepods living on
exoskeletons of burrowing shrimp, trematode metacercariae encysting on the
exoskeleton of a crab. |
10 |
Trophically Transmitted
Parasitic Castration |
An infectious consumer
individual blocks a hostŐs reproduction and requires that its host be
consumed by an appropriate predator host for lifecycle completion.
Trophically transmitted parasitic castrators often modify host to increase
trophic transmission to the predator host. Examples: Schistocephalus tapeworm
pleroceroid larvae, some microphallid trematodes in molluscan hosts. |
11 |
Trophically Transmitted Pathogen
Infection |
An infectious consumer
individual multiplies within a resource individual (host) and requires that
the host be consumed by an appropriate predator host in order to complete its
lifecycle. Trophically transmitted pathogens often modify host behavior to increase
trophic transmission to the predator host. Examples: multilocular hydatid
tapeworm cysts, Toxoplamsa in intermediate hosts. |
12 |
Trophically Transmitted
Parasitism |
An infectious consumer on a
resource (host), where the consumer requires its host to be consumed by an
appropriate predator host to complete its life cycle. Its effect on the host
is intensity-dependent. Trophically transmitted parasites often modify host
behavior to increase trophic transmission to the next (predator) host.
Examples: most larval tapeworms, most trematode metacercariae, Guinea worms
in copepods. |
13 |
Trophically Transmitted
Commensalism |
The non-trophic interaction
between a commensal and its host resource individual where, in order to
complete its life cycle, the commensal requires that its host resource
individual be consumed by an appropriate predator or micropredator. |
14 |
Concomitant Predation on
Symbionts |
A consumer individual preys on a
resource individual, and thus consumes the resource individual's symbionts.
This interaction describes the fate of the symbionts that are not able to
escape or use the attacking consumer as a resource. |
15 |
Trophic Transmission |
A consumer individual consumes a
free-living infectious agent or trophically transmitted infectious agent that
is able to infect it, thus further the infectious agent's life cycle. This
describes the transmission event between the appropriate predator host and
the trophically transmitted parasite. This is opposed to trophically
transmitted parasitic castration/pathogen infection/parasitism/commensalism,
which describe the interaction between the parasite and the host that is
preyed upon during trophic transmission. It is similar to Concomitant
Predation on Symbionts in that it describes ingestion of a parasite by a
consumer, but differs in that this ingestion can lead to transmission of the
parasite from the prey to the consumer. Likewise, it is similar to Predation
on free-living non-feeding parasite stages except that consumption of the
free-living stage leads to transmission of the parasite. |
16 |
Predation on free-living
non-feeding stages |
A consumer individual consumes
free-living non-feeding stages, that are not infectious to the consumer
individual. |
17 |
Predation on commensal
non-feeding stages |
A consumer individual attacking
non-feeding commensals without harming their symbiont resource. |
18 |
Detritivory |
A consumer individual feeds on
or breaks down dead animal and plant matter. Examples:
many fungi, dung beetles, vultures. |
19 |
Parasite Intraguild Trophic
Interaction |
An infectious agent attacks and
kills (usually consuming) another infectious agent within the same symbiont. Examples larval trematodes, parasitoid wasps. |
20 |
Intimate and Durable Mutualism |
The positive trophic interaction
between a symbiont and its host symbiote. Examples:
hermatypic corals and zooxanthellae. |
21 |
Facultative Micropredation |
The outcome of a feeding interaction of
a micropredator depends on the relative size of the prey or host
individual. On a large host the
consumer is a micropredator, but on a small prey the consumer is a predator.
The relative sizes determining feeding outcomes are system specific. Related
terms used in system and taxon specific contexts include browser, grazer and
sublethal predator. Examples: vampire bats, lampreys, fang blennies. |