Process of Host Utilization

All parasites go through a series of processes by which they find, attack and utilize their hosts. One often used model to describe this series has been developed by Doutt (1959) and Vinson (1976). This series has been divided (artificially) into discrete processes, which makes discussion and study easier. However, it is important to remember that there is great overlap between processes, and that some of the processes are less important for particular parasites or in some settings.

The following series of processes will be used to help understand how parasites utilize their hosts:

• Habitat selection
• Host location
• Host acceptance
• Host suitability
• Host regulation

Listing processes this way imposes a static view of how parasites respond to an array of cues, many of which are present simultaneously. After we discuss the sequence of processes, we then present caveats and alternative means of analyzing the host utilization behaviors. Behavioral aspects of host finding are also discussed in the Theories and Models section.