When comparing host sister clades we tend to find taxonomically richer parasite fauna on the taxonomically richer group of hosts.
Eichler's rule is one of several coevolutionary rules which states that parasites tend to be highly specific to their hosts, and thus it seems reasonable to expect a positive co-variation between the taxonomic richness of hosts and that of their parasites.
History
A rule to describe the taxonomic relationship between parasites and their hosts was developed in 1942 by Wolfdietrich Eichler (1912–1994), a German authority in zoology and parasitology who served as a professor of parasitology at Leipzig University. The principle was later dubbed 'Eichler's rule'. It is one of the first three coevolutionary rules, created in opposition to Heinrich Fahrenholz's anti-Darwinian research into coevolution.
Research
As a part of their 2012 study, Vas and his co-authors tested Eichler's rule, and concluded that exceptionally strong correlational evidence supports the positive co-variation between the species richness of avian and mammalian families and the generic richness of their parasitic lice.
In volume nine of Advances in Parasitology, parasitologist W. Grant Inglis posited that, when studying the co-variation between the taxonomic richness of hosts and parasites, it is easier to study parasites than free-living host organisms.
|
|
|---|
| Rules |
-
Allen's rule Shorter appendages in colder climates
-
Bateson's rule Extra limbs mirror their neighbours
-
Bergmann's rule Larger bodies in colder climates
-
Cope's rule Bodies get larger over time
-
Deep-sea gigantism Larger bodies in deep-sea animals
-
Dollo's law Loss of complex traits is irreversible
-
Eichler's rule Parasites co-vary with their hosts
-
Emery's rule Insect social parasites are often in same genus as their hosts
-
Fahrenholz's rule Host and parasite phylogenies become congruent
-
Foster's rule (Insular gigantism, Insular dwarfism) Small species get larger, large species smaller, after colonizing islands
-
Gause's law Complete competitors cannot coexist
-
Gloger's rule Lighter coloration in colder, drier climates
-
Haldane's rule Hybrid sexes that are absent, rare, or sterile, are heterogamic
-
Harrison's rule Parasites co-vary in size with their hosts
-
Hamilton's rule Genes increase in frequency when relatedness of recipient to actor times benefit to recipient exceeds reproductive cost to actor
-
Hennig's progression rule In cladistics, the most primitive species are found in earliest, central, part of group's area
-
Jarman–Bell principle The correlation between the size of an animal and its diet quality; larger animals can consume lower quality diet
-
Jordan's rule Inverse relationship between water temperature and no. of fin rays, vertebrae
-
Lack's principle Birds lay only as many eggs as they can provide food for
-
Rapoport's rule Latitudinal range increases with latitude
-
Rensch's rule Sexual size dimorphism increases with size when males are larger, decreases with size when females are larger
-
Rosa's rule Groups evolve from character variation in primitive species to a fixed character state in advanced ones
-
Schmalhausen's law A population at limit of tolerance in one aspect is vulnerable to small differences in any other aspect
-
Thorson's rule No. of eggs of benthic marine invertebrates decreases with latitude
-
Van Valen's law Probability of extinction of a group is constant over time
-
von Baer's laws Embryos start from a common form and develop into increasingly specialised forms
-
Williston's law Parts in an organism become reduced in number and specialized in function
|
|
| Related |
|
