Integrating Evolved Responses to Chemical Contaminants with Zoonotic Reservoir Competence

Abstract

The competence of a species for a zoonotic disease can be broadly defined as its ability to cause new infections, thereby increasing the fitness of the causative parasite (Stewart Merrill & Johnson 2020). Because most zoonotic diseases originate from mammals, studies have sought to identify mammalian species likely to exhibit higher competence and the drivers that underlie variation in competence. Indeed, life history This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Accepted Articletheory has contributed greatly to how we understand disease competence across mammalian taxa. In particular, mammals that follow a faster pace of life (i.e. reproduction favored over survival), notably rodents, are considered more competent reservoirs for zoonoses (Plourde et al. 2017). Thus, a faster pace of life in mammals is associated with a higher competence for zoonotic diseases.Globally, there has been a rise in the dissemination of chemical contaminants into the environment. In some instances, contaminants, such as pesticides, are intentionally introduced to remove a target species, but nontarget species are often exposed. Many