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Population dynamics lies at the core of ecological and evolutionary theory. It shapes the structure of communities and generates evolutionary processes, determining persistence and stability, invasion and extinction. The importance [...]

Host-host-pathogen dynamics and the role of pathogens in community structure were studied using a model in which two host populations are subject to self-regulation and share the same directly transmitted pathogen. The model assumes that the hosts exhibit continuous population growth, self-regulation or intraspecific competition and settling at carrying capacity in the absence of disease. Several outcomes of the competitive interactions between the two hosts in combination with the regulatory effects of the pathogen are discussed.

Interactions between victims and enemies--between prey and predator, plant and herbivore, host and parasite, even between host and pathogen--are a central feature of all ecological communities. Even in the earliest [...]