Table 1. Model parameters and values used in the model.

Parameter	Interpretation	Values used in simulations
n	Number of competitors in the environment	0–17
rh	Host growth rate	0.1
rp	Pathogen growth rate	2.0
rb	Competitor growth rate	2.0
Kh	Host carrying capacity	100
Kp	Outside host pathogen carrying capacity	10000
Kb	Outside host community carrying capacity	10000
ID 50	Infectious dose at which 50% of hosts are infected.	3150
κ	Slope parameter of the sigmoid infectivity function	4
β	Maximum infectivity	4
δ	Host recovery rate from infection	0.6
ν	Infection kill rate	0.1
	Between species competition strength	0.5
α	Competitive ability reduction	0.05, 0–0.15
k	Number of pathogens released at host death	500
η	Pathogen mortality	1.0, 0–2.5

The parameters are chosen to represent a realistic scenario with a bacterial pathogen and a small multi-cellular host (see text).