Fig. 4
Structural equation model for effects of environmental factors and host traits on competition between parasites. a Probability of parasite infestation; b parasite load. Non- significant relationships (P > 0.05) are in grey, and black arrows indicate significant relationships (P < 0.05), solid when positive and dashed when negative. The thickness of the arrows indicates the strength of the relationship. Path coefficients are shown adjacent to the arrows (continuous variables were Z-transformed to obtain the standardized coefficients). MP probability of mite infestation, TP probability of tick infestation, ML mite load, TL tick load, Sex-m male sex, PC1 the first PCA axis based on environmental factors