Light Manipulation
Bending photons into weapons of blinding brilliance or searing destruction.
Behavior-altering parasites are parasites capable of causing changes in the behavior of their hosts species to enhance their transmission, sometimes directly affecting the hosts' decision-making and behavior control mechanisms. By way of example, a parasite that reproduces in an intermediate host may require, as part of their life cycle, that the intermediate host be eaten by a predator at a higher trophic level, and some parasites are capable of altering the behavior of the intermediate host to make such predation more likely; a mechanism that has been called parasite increased trophic facilitation or parasite increased trophic transmission.
Examples can be found in bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and animals. Parasites may perform bodyguard manipulation to increase protection of the parasites or their offspring. Among the behavioral changes caused by parasites is carelessness, making their hosts easier prey. The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, for example, infects small rodents and causes them to become careless and may cause them to become attracted to the smell of cat urine, both of which increase their risk of predation and the parasite's chance of infecting a cat, its definitive host.
Parasites may alter the host's behavior by infecting the host's central nervous system, or by altering its neurochemical communication (studied in neuroparasitology).
Lore & Background
It discusses behavior-altering parasites in general biology, including examples like Toxoplasma gondii, Trypanosoma cruzi, Plasmodium mexicanum, the emerald cockroach wasp, Schistosoma mansoni, and Pomphorhynchus laevis. It describes mechanisms such as direct and indirect manipulation, central nervous system infection, immune response, altered neurotransmission, and other mechanisms like mermithid nematodes manipulating hemolymph osmolality. It also covers the evolution of complex life cycles and the adaptive manipulation hypothesis. No mention is made of Worm, capes, Endbringers, or any specific fictional universe.
Reader's Guide
It describes scientific concepts such as parasite increased trophic transmission, the difference between direct and indirect manipulation, the role of the immune system and neurochemical communication, and examples of specific parasites and their effects on host behavior. No instructions or strategies are given.
Did You Know?
- The emerald cockroach wasp alters behavior through injection of venom directly into the host's brain, causing hypokinesia by reducing dopamine and octopamine activity.
- The trematode Schistosoma mansoni secretes opioid peptides into the host's bloodstream, influencing both its immune response and neural function.
- Mermithid nematodes infect arthropods and manipulate their hemolymph osmolality to trigger water-seeking behavior, though the means by which they do so are unknown.
- Infection with Toxoplasma gondii inhibits the typical heightened anxiety response in rodents, increasing the risk of predation by subsequent hosts.
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