Behavioural ecology and infectious disease: implications for conservation of biodiversity

Herrera, James P.; Nunn, Charles L.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2018.0054

Cited by 33 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 126 publications

(173 reference statements)

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“…In multi-host, multi-parasite systems, host species can vary substantially in infection risk and heterogeneity in disease risk among hosts can be driven by individual-or species-level host characteristics. At the species-level, variation in infection risk can occur because of differences in host-life history, behavior and environment that underpin patterns of parasite exposure [1][2][3][4]. At the individual-level, hosts can vary in infection risk owing to differences in exposure to parasites and host susceptibility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Host Phylogeny Matters: Examining Sources of Variation in Infection Risk by Blood Parasites Across a Tropical Montane Bird Community in India

Gupta¹,

Vishnudas

Robin

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Identifying patterns and drivers of infection risk among host communities is crucial to elucidate disease dynamics and predict infectious disease risk in wildlife populations. Blood parasites of genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus are a diverse group of vector-borne protozoan parasites that affected bird populations globally. Despite their widespread distribution and exceptional diversity, factors underlying haemosporidian infection risk in wild bird communities remain poorly understood. While some studies have examined variation in avian haemosporidian risk, researchers have primarily focused on host ecological traits without considering host phylogenetic relationships. In this study, we employ a phylogenetically informed approach to examine the association between host ecological traits and avian haemosporidian infection risk in endemic bird communities in the Western Ghats Sky Islands.Methods: We collected blood samples from 1177 birds (28 species) and amplified partial parasite mitochondrial cytochrome b gene to identify avian haemosporidian infection and characterized unique haemosporidian lineages by sequencing. We employed a Bayesian phylogenetic mixed effect modelling approach to test the association between seven species specific ecological predictors, four individual level predictors and avian haemosporidian infection risk. We also examined the effect of host phylogenetic relationships on the observed patterns of variation in haemosporidian infection risk by estimating phylogenetic signal.Results: Our study shows that effects of host ecological traits and host phylogeny on infection risk vary for Plasmodium (generalist parasite) vs. Haemoproteus (specialist parasite). For Plasmodium, we found that sociality, sexual dimorphism and feeding strata were important ecological predictors. For Haemoproteus, patterns of infection risk among host species were associated with sociality, elevation and individual body condition. Interestingly, variance in infection risk explained by host phylogeny was higher for Haemoproteus parasites compared to Plasmodium. Conclusion: Our study highlights that while host ecological traits promoting parasite exposure and host susceptibility are important determinants of infection risk, host phylogeny also contributes substantially in predicting patterns of avian haemosporidian infection risk among host communities. Importantly, infection risk is driven by joint contributions of host ecology and host phylogeny and studying these effects together could increase our ability to better understand the drivers of infection risk and predict future disease threats.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Host Phylogeny Matters: Examining Sources of Variation in Infection Risk by Blood Parasites Across a Tropical Montane Bird Community in India

Gupta¹,

Vishnudas

Robin

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Heterogeneity in host behavior, morphology, and habitat use all influence infection risk, and probability of vaccine exposure [35][36][37]. Assessing vaccine exposure in target and non-target wildlife can be done using biomarkers, such as fluorescent Rhodamine B [38].…”

Section: Ecological and Logistical Challenges Of Vaccination Exacerbamentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological and Evolutionary Challenges for Wildlife Vaccination

Barnett

Civitello

2020

Trends in Parasitology

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Wildlife vaccination is of urgent interest to reduce disease-induced extinction and zoonotic spillover events. However, several challenges complicate its application to wildlife. For example, vaccines rarely provide perfect immunity. While some protection may seem better than none, imperfect vaccination can present epidemiological, ecological, and evolutionary challenges. While anti-infection and antitransmission vaccines reduce parasite transmission, antidisease vaccines may undermine herd immunity, select for increased virulence, or promote spillover. These imperfections interact with ecological and logistical constraints that are magnified in wildlife, such as poor control and substantial trait variation within and among species. Ultimately, we recommend approaches such as trait-based vaccination, modeling tools, and methods to assess community-and ecosystem-level vaccine safety to address these concerns and bolster wildlife vaccination campaigns. The Potential of Wildlife Vaccines Highlights Vaccines vary in their efficacy and can be categorized as conferring waning, binary, or partial immunity. Some imperfect vaccines may indirectly increase parasite transmission or virulence. Target vaccine coverage depends on wildlife disease control objectives, for example, spillover prevention or conservation.

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“…Zooming in on disease transmission, Silk et al follow on by reviewing how recent epidemiological modelling using SNA integrates demography and information on social behaviour to further our understanding of the spread of infections and thereby inform management interventions [31]. Herrera & Nunn in the subsequent paper expand to a general review of how the mutual effects between behaviour and disease transmission scale up from the individual level to the population and community levels [50].…”

Section: Overview Of Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation

Bro‐Jørgensen

Franks

Meise

2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The impact of environmental change on the reproduction and survival of wildlife is often behaviourally mediated, placing behavioural ecology in a central position to quantify population- and community-level consequences of anthropogenic threats to biodiversity. This theme issue demonstrates how recent conceptual and methodological advances in the discipline are applied to inform conservation. The issue highlights how the focus in behavioural ecology on understanding variation in behaviour between individuals, rather than just measuring the population mean, is critical to explaining demographic stochasticity and thereby reducing fuzziness of population models. The contributions also show the importance of knowing the mechanisms by which behaviour is achieved, i.e. the role of learning, reasoning and instincts, in order to understand how behaviours change in human-modified environments, where their function is less likely to be adaptive. More recent work has thus abandoned the ‘adaptationist’ paradigm of early behavioural ecology and increasingly measures evolutionary processes directly by quantifying selection gradients and phenotypic plasticity. To support quantitative predictions at the population and community levels, a rich arsenal of modelling techniques has developed, and interdisciplinary approaches show promising prospects for predicting the effectiveness of alternative management options, with the social sciences, movement ecology and epidemiology particularly pertinent. The theme issue furthermore explores the relevance of behaviour for global threat assessment, and practical advice is given as to how behavioural ecologists can augment their conservation impact by carefully selecting and promoting their study systems, and increasing their engagement with local communities, natural resource managers and policy-makers. Its aim to uncover the nuts and bolts of how natural systems work positions behavioural ecology squarely in the heart of conservation biology, where its perspective offers an all-important complement to more descriptive ‘big-picture’ approaches to priority setting. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation’.

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Behavioural ecology and infectious disease: implications for conservation of biodiversity

Cited by 33 publications

References 126 publications

Host Phylogeny Matters: Examining Sources of Variation in Infection Risk by Blood Parasites Across a Tropical Montane Bird Community in India

Host Phylogeny Matters: Examining Sources of Variation in Infection Risk by Blood Parasites Across a Tropical Montane Bird Community in India

Ecological and Evolutionary Challenges for Wildlife Vaccination

Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation

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