We use a combination of mathematical analysis and computer simulation to examine the evolution and co-evolution of hosts and parasites.

The role of spatial structure to the evolution of parasites

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There is always some form of spatial or social structure within populations: individuals interact with some individuals more often than others. We use a combination of computer simulation and pair approximation to examine the implication of local interactions to the evolution of parasites. The key to this work is that we examine mixing patterns between the completely local and the completely mixed.

The first paper on this is:
Boots, M. & A. Sasaki (1999). “Small Worlds” and the evolution of virulence: infection occurs locally and at a distance. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, 266,1933-1938,

This has been followed up with a series of theoretical models (link) and now an empirical test of the theory:
Boots, M. and M. Mealor (2007). Local interactions select for lower infectivity. Science, 315, 1184-1186.

The evolution of host defence: resistance and tolerance

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A large body of theoretical work (link) has been developed to look at how ecological feedbacks affect the evolution of defence to parasites. The approach is modern evolutionary game theory that allows the ecological dynamics of the interaction to be taken into account in the evolutionary process. This is of crucial importance in the evolution of defence, since the host strategy will affect the parasite prevalence. For example resistance as it spreads from rare will tend to reduce prevalence and be less advantageous. Other defence mechanisms such as mortality tolerance will have different effects on prevalence.

A old paper in this work is:
Boots, M. & Y. Haraguchi (1999). The evolution of costly resistance in host-parasite systems. The American Naturalist, 153, 359-370.

A key recent paper is:
Best, A., A. White & M. Boots (2008). The maintenance of host variation in tolerance to pathogens and parasites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 20786-20791.

Evolutionary theory: The role of shapes of trade-offs

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The elephant in the room for many modeling studies is that the outcomes depend critically on the shape of the trade-off curve that is assumed. We have developed a new method (Trade-off invasion plots TIPs) that allows the role of the trade-off shape to be studied explicitly.

Hoyle, A., R.G. Bowers, A. White & M. Boots (2008). The evolutionary implications of the shape of trade-offs in different ecological contexts. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 250, 498-511.

Bowers, R.G., A, Hoyle, M. Boots & A White (2005). The geometric theory of adaptive evolution: Trade-off and invasion plots. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 233, 363-377.

Boots, M & R.G. Bowers (2004). The evolution of acquired immunity. Proceedings of the Royal Society, 271, 715-723.