Abstract
For parasites, finding their hosts in vast and heterogeneous environments is a task that can be complex. Some parasite species rely on elaborate strategies to increase encounter rate with their hosts (e.g. behavioural modification of host), but others do not. For these parasites, a key issue is to reveal the processes that enable them to successfully find their hosts and complete their life cycles. Here, we tested the hypothesis that infective larvae of the freshwater ectoparasite Tracheliastes polycolpus are not homogeneously distributed along the river and preferentially occur in very specific microhabitats that maximize encounter rate, and hence infection rate, with their host fish. To do this, we combined an in situ experiment (caging) with an empirical survey carried out on the same sites to identify potential 'hotspots' of infection at the microgeographic scale and their environmental characteristics. Experimental and empirical results demonstrated that infections were not evenly distributed among microhabitats, and that infections were spatially aggregated in hotspots at a very fine spatial grain. We further found that certain combinations of environmental variables were consistently and nonlinearly associated with higher infection rate for both caged and wild-caught fish. Microhabitats characterized by very low or high stream velocities, associated with medium or very small substrate, respectively, and a deep water column were strongly and repeatedly associated with higher infection rates. These microhabitats could concentrate parasites and/or promote physical contact with the hosts. We conclude that the characteristics of some microhabitats could facilitate contact between hosts and parasites and explain how some parasites manage to find their hosts in complex environments.