Journal of Phylogenetics & Evolutionary Biology

Originally, two disciplines of study have created theory surrounding foraging and feeding that has influenced biology more broadly: optimal foraging theory and nutritional ecology. While these fields primarily developed concurrently, they are complementary, with each offering unique capabilities. We illustrate how nutritional geometry, a method developed in the study of insect nutrition, has offered a framework for merging fundamental components of optimal foraging theory into nutritional ecology. This synthesis provides a foundation for integrating with foraging and feeding the various parts of biology that are linked to nutrition and is currently influencing diverse sectors of the biological and biomedical sciences.

Opisthorchis viverrini, Clonorchis sinensis, and Opisthorchis felineus are considered to be of significant global public health importance, with an estimated 700 million people at risk of infection and 10, 35, and 1.6 million infected, respectively, in their contiguous geographic ranges spanning Central to East and Southeast Asia. In the literature, O. viverrini (Ov) is portrayed as causing hepatobiliary illness, sometimes referred to clinically as 'Opisthochiasis,' particularly cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), presuming a causative chain including raw fish eating, followed by infection with this liver fluke, leading to cancer.