Infestation intensity and prevalence of an ectosymbiotic midge under variable environmental and host conditions
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Hostsymbiont theory suggests that the abundance of an obligate symbiont will correlate positively with the density and size of its host. We examined these expectations using an obligate chironomid ectosymbiont host fishfly (Nanocladius (Plecopteracoluthus) sp. No. 5 Nigronia serricornis) system in 13 streams of southern Maine over 2 years (19961998). In addition, we investigated field conditions and macroinvertebrate-community composition, to search for correlates with symbiont prevalence and mean infestation intensity. Prevalence and infestation intensity were high in both years of the study, but neither infestation intensity nor prevalence was correlated with host population density across sites. Within sites, prevalence increased significantly when host density declined, contrary to our expectation. Symbiont-infestation intensity was not related to host size. No symbiont-population attributes correlated with physicochemical conditions in either sample year but prevalence was positively correlated with infestation intensity. Ectosymbiotic midges exhibited a significant host and attachment-site bias. Collectively, these data suggest that this symbionthost interaction is obligate and stable, but the dynamics in our streams do not support the general expectation of increasing symbiont-population size with either increasing host-population or body size. Intraspecific interactions between symbionts are thought to have a stronger influence on population dynamics than do host populations or abiotic conditions for this ectosymbiotic midge.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".