Parasite avoidance is a host defense that reduces an individual's contact rate with parasites. We investigate avoidance as a primary driver of variation among individuals in their risk of parasitism and the evolution of host–parasite interactions. To bridge mechanistic and taxonomic divides, we define and categorize avoidance by its function and position in the sequence of host defenses. We also examine the role of avoidance in limiting epidemics and evaluate evidence for the processes that drive its evolution. Throughout, we highlight important directions in which to advance our conceptual and theoretical understanding of the role of avoidance in host–parasite interactions. We emphasize the need to test assumptions and quantify the effect of avoidance independent of other defenses. Importantly, many open questions may be most tractable in host systems that have not been the focus of traditional behavioral avoidance research, such as plants and invertebrates.

中文翻译：

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避免寄生虫的进化和生态学

寄生虫回避是一种宿主防御，可减少个体与寄生虫的接触率。我们研究了回避作为个体寄生风险和宿主-寄生虫相互作用进化变化的主要驱动因素。为了弥合机制和分类学的分歧，我们根据其在宿主防御序列中的功能和位置来定义和分类回避。我们还研究了回避在限制流行病中的作用，并评估了推动其演变过程的证据。在整个过程中，我们强调了推进我们对宿主-寄生虫相互作用中回避作用的概念和理论理解的重要方向。我们强调需要测试假设并量化独立于其他防御的回避效果。重要的是，许多悬而未决的问题可能在植物和无脊椎动物等并非传统行为回避研究焦点的宿主系统中最容易处理。