## Biases in parasite richness estimates arising from coinfection dynamics July Pilowsky, Amy Sweeny, Greg Albery, Barbara Han --- ## Can coinfection dynamics bias population estimates of parasite richness? - The short answer: yes. --- ## Are interactions among parasites, viruses, and bacteria common? - The short answer: we don’t know - Interactions can be inferred with experimental infections, parasite removal, and longitudinal studies of infection - These haven’t been done very often - Amy Sweeny will change this, we hope ---  --- ## Research Question What are we missing when we estimate parasite or viral richness without accounting for coinfection dynamics? --- ## Approach: Individual-based modeling SI model with pairwise interactions and no demography  --- ## Approach: Parameter space explored  --- ## Approach: What a single simulation looks like  --- ## Does high parasite richness “smooth out” interaction?  --- ## Does the strength of interactions matter?  --- ## proportion of the population sampled  --- ## Interactions between strains are more important  --- ## Up Next - More simulations, this time with a lower baseline transmission rate - A search for any empirical data about C:F ratio and interaction strength in microbial communities