Host and Parasite - from the 'Cycles of My House' series
Hosts and parasites balance one another. As the host becomes more plentiful so does the parasite, with every generation's survivors being those most fit to utilize the available resources. When the host thrives the parasite thrives, and when the host reaches critical mass for the resources in its area, then surpasses that mass, its health begins to decline. When the health of the host declines, parasitic effects become more pronounced in those most susceptible to their personal parasite population, and the hosts begin to die from those effects in greater numbers than in a healthy population. Those that survive, of both hosts and parasites, are those most balanced in their use of resources and most well-adapted to their environmental and social surroundings - more or less of either depending upon the degree of effect of each on the individual, which will vary, sometimes greatly. As the host population drops the parasitic population also drops. As they die together, within and around...