Social Immunity

Cremer, Sylvia; Kutzer, Megan A. M.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809633-8.90721-0

Cited by 14 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…For instance, social complexity can emerge as a result of selective pressures of past infectious diseases, and therefore may have the ability to lower the risk of transmission of future infectious disease (Hock & Fefferman, ). Conversely, the patterns of social interactions may not provide protection from disease transmission in species that use alternate defence mechanisms (physiological or behavioural) to combat disease spread once it is introduced in the population (Cremer, Armitage, & Schmid‐Hempel, ; Meunier, ; Stroeymeyt, Casillas‐Pérez, & Cremer, ). In this study, we assessed whether network structure alone (in the absence of physiological or behavioural disease defence mechanisms) can reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission in different social systems, using comparative methods on an extensive database of animal social networks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems

Sah

Mann

Bansal

2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

107

137

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The disease costs of sociality have largely been understood through the link between group size and transmission. However, infectious disease spread is driven primarily by the social organization of interactions in a group and not its size. We used statistical models to review the social network organization of 47 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects by categorizing each species into one of three social systems, relatively solitary, gregarious and socially hierarchical. Additionally, using computational experiments of infection spread, we determined the disease costs of each social system. We find that relatively solitary species have large variation in number of social partners, that socially hierarchical species are the least clustered in their interactions, and that social networks of gregarious species tend to be the most fragmented. However, these structural differences are primarily driven by weak connections, which suggest that different social systems have evolved unique strategies to organize weak ties. Our synthetic disease experiments reveal that social network organization can mitigate the disease costs of group living for socially hierarchical species when the pathogen is highly transmissible. In contrast, highly transmissible pathogens cause frequent and prolonged epidemic outbreaks in gregarious species. We evaluate the implications of network organization across social systems despite methodological challenges, and our findings offer new perspective on the debate about the disease costs of group living. Additionally, our study demonstrates the potential of meta-analytic methods in social network analysis to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses on cooperation, group living, communication and resilience to extrinsic pressures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems

Sah

Mann

Bansal

2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

107

137

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“…on flowers, mouth‐to‐mouth food exchanges or during copulation) or vertically into the next generation (e.g. through transovarian transmission, mother to daughter colony; Schmid‐Hempel, ; Cremer et al ., ; see details in Table ).…”

Section: The Main Parasites and Pathogens Of Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In principle, any impairment of cognitive functions may considerably reduce the foraging success of individuals (Klein et al ., ). Social bees, which live in highly integrated colonies based on division of labour, have evolved cooperative strategies to reduce infection rates and mitigate their effects (Cremer et al ., ; Cotter & Kilner, ). So far, however, defence strategies by solitary bees, which represent the vast majority of bee species (Michener, ), are virtually unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition

Gómez‐Moracho

Heeb

Lihoreau

2017

Ecological Entomology

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Abstract. 1. Bees are key pollinators and their widespread decline has raised considerable concerns regarding the sustainability of ecosystems and food production. Many environmental stressors do not directly kill bees, but they alter their physiology and behaviour, ultimately impacting colonies and populations.2. This review considers the impact of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition. 3. First the main parasites and pathogens of bees are described, as well as how they modify the foraging behaviour, learning and memory of their hosts.4. Next, the various defence mechanisms developed by bees to mitigate these effects at both the individual and collective levels are examined.5. Finally, there is a discussion on how integrating research on host parasites, animal behaviour and cognition will provide a more detailed assessment of the contribution of parasites and pathogens to declines in the bee population and help to inform constructive ecological interventions.

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“…Social insect colonies represent a preferential target for parasitic and pathogen infections, as they usually consist of large numbers of closely related individuals that frequently interact, favouring the spread of parasites and pathogens among colony members (Cremer et al, 2007). Social insect colonies represent a preferential target for parasitic and pathogen infections, as they usually consist of large numbers of closely related individuals that frequently interact, favouring the spread of parasites and pathogens among colony members (Cremer et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 'evolution of increased competitive ability' hypothesis predicts that invasive species are subjected to less predation and parasitisation than sympatric native species, and thus can allocate resources from defence and immunity to growth and fecundity, thereby achieving higher fitness (Lee & Klasing, 2004;Liu & Stiling, 2006;Manfredini et al, 2013). Foragers are exposed to pathogens at foraging hotspots (Durrer & Schmid-Hempel, 1994) and they may represent routes for bringing new infections into the colony (Cremer et al, 2007); therefore, a stronger immune system in workers could enhance colony efficiency in foraging activities, allowing the invasive hornets to outcompete the native species. Foragers are exposed to pathogens at foraging hotspots (Durrer & Schmid-Hempel, 1994) and they may represent routes for bringing new infections into the colony (Cremer et al, 2007); therefore, a stronger immune system in workers could enhance colony efficiency in foraging activities, allowing the invasive hornets to outcompete the native species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

Cini

Cappa

Petrocelli

et al. 2018

Ecological Entomology

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1. Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity. In addition to predation and parasitism, native species might suffer from competition when invasive alien species occupy a similar ecological niche.2. This study focused on the potential interspecific interaction between two hornets: the Asian yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, a high-concern invasive alien species recently arrived in Europe; and the native European hornet, Vespa crabro. The two species share a similar ecological niche and V. velutina is rapidly expanding across Europe, which suggests that V. crabro might suffer from competition.3. Under laboratory-controlled conditions, two life-history traits that might cause the two species to compete were investigated: (i) the ability of workers to find food sources and their flexibility in exploiting them (through individual food item choice tests and exploration assays); and (ii) the worker resistance to pathogens (through immune challenge tests).4. The results show that trophic preference of both species highly overlaps, with a marked dietary preference for honeybees compared with other insect prey and non-prey protein items. No differences were observed in the exploratory behaviour of both species. Finally, constitutive antibacterial activity was greater in workers of the native species than in workers of the invasive hornet.5. This laboratory study provides a first assessment under controlled conditions of the factors affecting competition between workers of two hornet species and proposes a framework to assess, in wild contexts, the magnitude of the competition and the impact of the introduced V. velutina on the native V. crabro.

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Social Immunity

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems

Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems

Effects of parasites and pathogens on bee cognition

Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

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