Perturbations of positive semigroups on $$L_p$$-spaces

We give a characterization of a variation of constants type estimate relating two positive semigroups on (possibly different) (L_p)-spaces to one another in terms of corresponding estimates for the respective generators and of estimates for the respective resolvents. The results have applications to kernel estimates for semigroups induced by accretive and non-local forms on (sigma )-finite measure spaces.