Behavioral competence: how host behaviors can interact to influence parasite transmission risk

Barron, Douglas G.; Gervasi, SS; Pruitt, J.R.; Martin, Lynn B.

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.08.002

Cited by 70 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This suggests an important role of body contact or affiliative behavioural interactions in the transmission of cuticular bacteria. A recent experiment using freshwater snails demonstrated that bodily contact is a major determinant of the dispersal of a defensive symbiont from 'donor' to 'receiver' hosts, and similar (in terms of trait disassortativity) to the data presented here, the degree of transmission was greater when donor hosts were larger than their unexposed receivers, with the opposite being true if receivers were larger than donors [63]. This highlights the need to test the generality of trait disassortativity and transmission across many different host -symbiont systems.…”

Section: (B) Transmission Through Contact Versus Via Shared Silksupporting

confidence: 80%

Individual differences in boldness influence patterns of social interactions and the transmission of cuticular bacteria among group-mates

et al. 2016

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Despite the importance of host attributes for the likelihood of associated microbial transmission, individual variation is seldom considered in studies of wildlife disease. Here, we test the influence of host phenotypes on social network structure and the likelihood of cuticular bacterial transmission from exposed individuals to susceptible group-mates using female social spiders (Stegodyphus dumicola). Based on the interactions of resting individuals of known behavioural types, we assessed whether individuals assorted according to their behavioural traits. We found that individuals preferentially interacted with individuals of unlike behavioural phenotypes. We next applied a green fluorescent protein-transformed cuticular bacterium, Pantoea sp., to individuals and allowed them to interact with an unexposed colonymate for 24 h. We found evidence for transmission of bacteria in 55% of cases. The likelihood of transmission was influenced jointly by the behavioural phenotypes of both the exposed and susceptible individuals: transmission was more likely when exposed spiders exhibited higher 'boldness' relative to their colony-mate, and when unexposed individuals were in better body condition. Indirect transmission via shared silk took place in only 15% of cases. Thus, bodily contact appears key to transmission in this system. These data represent a fundamental step towards understanding how individual traits influence larger-scale social and epidemiological dynamics.

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Section: (B) Transmission Through Contact Versus Via Shared Silksupporting

confidence: 80%

Individual differences in boldness influence patterns of social interactions and the transmission of cuticular bacteria among group-mates

et al. 2016

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“…Likewise, the intriguing intraindividual correlations among costs and TLR-4 expression coupled with inconsistencies among TLR-4 expression patterns among years/studies leave unresolved the role of TLR-4 expression as a driver of success in new areas (Ostfeld et al, 2014;Han et al, 2015). Going forward, it will be useful to determine how the costs and benefits of inflammation in invaders work in concert (or conflict) to mitigate the eruption and spread of parasites in natural and modified systems (Zylberberg et al, 2014;Barron et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Costs of immunity and their role in the range expansion of the house sparrow in Kenya

Martin

Kilvitis

Brace

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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There are at least two reasons to study traits that mediate successful range expansions. First, dispersers will found new populations and thus impact the distribution and evolution of species. Second, organisms moving into new areas will influence the fate of resident communities, directly competing with or indirectly affecting residents by spreading non-native or spilling-back native parasites. The success of invaders in new areas is likely mediated by a counterbalancing of costly traits. In new areas where threats are comparatively rare, individuals that grow rapidly and breed prolifically should be at an advantage. High investment in defenses should thus be disfavored. In the present study, we compared the energetic, nutritional and collateral damage costs of an inflammatory response among Kenyan house sparrow (Passer domesticus) populations of different ages, asking whether costs were related to traits of individuals from three different capture sites. Kenya is among the world's most recent range expansions for this species, and we recently found that the expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), leukocyte receptors that instigate inflammatory responses when bound to microbial elements, was related to the range expansion across the country. Here, we found (contrary to our expectations) that energetic and nutritional costs of inflammation were higher, but damage costs were lower, in range-edge compared with core birds. Moreover, at the individual level, TLR-4 expression was negatively related to commodity costs (energy and a critical amino acid) of inflammation. Our data thus suggest that costs of inflammation, perhaps mediated by TLR expression, might mitigate successful range expansions.

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“…Hosts vary both in the way they encounter and are exposed to pathogens, and in the way they respond to infection [4–5]. Variation in exposure is mediated by biotic and abiotic factors that drive the spatiotemporal distribution and abundance of hosts and pathogens in the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Ecology and Epidemiology to Understand Predictors of Multi-Host Responses to an Emerging Pathogen, the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus

et al. 2017

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Variation in host responses to pathogens can have cascading effects on populations and communities when some individuals or groups of individuals display disproportionate vulnerability to infection or differ in their competence to transmit infection. The fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been detected in almost 700 different amphibian species and is implicated in numerous global amphibian population declines. Identifying key hosts in the amphibian-Bd system–those who are at greatest risk or who pose the greatest risk for others–is challenging due in part to many extrinsic environmental factors driving spatiotemporal Bd distribution and context-dependent host responses to Bd in the wild. One way to improve predictive risk models and generate testable mechanistic hypotheses about vulnerability is to complement what we know about the spatial epidemiology of Bd with data collected through comparative experimental studies. We used standardized pathogen challenges to quantify amphibian survival and infection trajectories across 20 post-metamorphic North American species raised from eggs. We then incorporated trait-based models to investigate the predictive power of phylogenetic history, habitat use, and ecological and life history traits in explaining responses to Bd. True frogs (Ranidae) displayed the lowest infection intensities, whereas toads (Bufonidae) generally displayed the greatest levels of mortality after Bd exposure. Affiliation with ephemeral aquatic habitat and breadth of habitat use were strong predictors of vulnerability to and intensity of infection and several other traits including body size, lifespan, age at sexual maturity, and geographic range also appeared in top models explaining host responses to Bd. Several of the species examined are highly understudied with respect to Bd such that this study represents the first experimental susceptibility data. Combining insights gained from experimental studies with observations of landscape-level disease prevalence may help explain current and predict future pathogen dynamics in the Bd system.

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Behavioral competence: how host behaviors can interact to influence parasite transmission risk

Cited by 70 publications

References 34 publications

Individual differences in boldness influence patterns of social interactions and the transmission of cuticular bacteria among group-mates

Individual differences in boldness influence patterns of social interactions and the transmission of cuticular bacteria among group-mates

Costs of immunity and their role in the range expansion of the house sparrow in Kenya

Linking Ecology and Epidemiology to Understand Predictors of Multi-Host Responses to an Emerging Pathogen, the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus

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