Pathogens, odors, and disgust in rodents

Kavaliers, Martin; Ossenkopp, Klaus‐Peter; Choleris, Elena

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.09.037

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 188 publications

(281 reference statements)

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“…Beyond perceiving chemical cues associated with attack of a conspecific by parasites attempting to establish, it is also possible to detect individuals with already-established infections through chemosensory means. This has been observed with various animals, including amphibians, crustaceans, and rodents (e.g., Kiesecker et al, 1999;Behringer et al, 2006;Kavaliers et al, 2020).…”

Section: Perception Of Enemy Riskmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Like plants and herbivory risk, various animals perceive parasite threat through chemical cues (Behringer et al, 2018;Kavaliers et al, 2020), although most studies to date have focused on particular host taxa, especially nematodes, honeybees, amphibians, and rodents (Sarabian et al, 2018). There is also evidence that animals, like plants, may be able to gauge more subtle aspects of risk through chemosensory means, such as parasite transmission potential and host compatibility (Sharp et al, 2015).…”

Section: Perception Of Enemy Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Risk-Induced Trait Responses and Non-consumptive Effects in Plants and Animals in Response to Their Invertebrate Herbivore and Parasite Natural Enemies

2021

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Predators kill and consume prey, but also scare living prey. Fitness of prey can be reduced by direct killing and consumption, but also by non-consumptive effects (NCEs) if prey show costly risk-induced trait responses (RITRs) to predators, which are meant to reduce predation risk. Recently, similarities between predators and parasites as natural enemies have been recognized, including their potential to cause victim RITRs and NCEs. However, plant-herbivore and animal host-parasite associations might be more comparable as victim-enemy systems in this context than either is to prey-predator systems. This is because plant herbivores and animal parasites are often invertebrate species that are typically smaller than their victims, generally cause lower lethality, and allow for further defensive responses by victims after consumption begins. Invertebrate herbivores can cause diverse RITRs in plants through various means, and animals also exhibit assorted RITRs to increased parasitism risk. This synthesis aims to broadly compare these two enemy-victim systems by highlighting the ways in which plants and animals perceive threat and respond with a range of induced victim trait responses that can provide pre-emptive defense against invertebrate enemies. We also review evidence that RITRs are costly in terms of reducing victim fitness or abundance, demonstrating how work with one victim-enemy system can inform the other with respect to the frequency and magnitude of RITRs and possible NCEs. We particularly highlight gaps in our knowledge about plant and animal host responses to their invertebrate enemies that may guide directions for future research. Comparing how potential plant and animal victims respond pre-emptively to the threat of consumption via RITRs will help to advance our understanding of natural enemy ecology and may have utility for pest and disease control.

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Section: Perception Of Enemy Riskmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Perception Of Enemy Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk-Induced Trait Responses and Non-consumptive Effects in Plants and Animals in Response to Their Invertebrate Herbivore and Parasite Natural Enemies

2021

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“…Scent-marking is very frequent in carnivores and many other mammals for interspecific and, mostly, intraspecific communication. Odors derived from marking with urine, saliva or feces are not only important for territory delimitation and defense (Ralls 1971 ; Johnson 1973 ; Sillero-Zubiri and Macdonald 1998 ), but also play a prominent role in assessing the health status of conspecifics in many mammalian species (Poirotte et al 2017 ; Kavaliers and Choleris 2018 ; Kavaliers et al 2020 ). The frequent marking behavior observed also suggests that carnivore carcass sites may concentrate more persistent infective stages excreted by urine or feces from the host than in the surrounding landscape.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding potential implications for non-trophic parasite transmission based on vertebrate behavior at mesocarnivore carcass sites

2021

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High infection risk is often associated with aggregations of animals around attractive resources. Here, we explore the behavior of potential hosts of non-trophically transmitted parasites at mesocarnivore carcass sites. We used videos recorded by camera traps at 56 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses and 10 carcasses of other wild carnivore species in three areas of southeastern Spain. Scavenging species, especially wild canids, mustelids and viverrids, showed more frequent rubbing behavior at carcass sites than non-scavenging and domestic species, suggesting that they could be exposed to a higher potential infection risk. The red fox was the species that most frequently contacted carcasses and marked and rubbed carcass sites. Foxes contacted heterospecific carcasses more frequently and earlier than conspecific ones and, when close contact occurred, it was more likely to be observed at heterospecific carcasses. This suggests that foxes avoid contact with the type of carcass and time period that have the greatest risk as a source of parasites. Overall, non-trophic behaviors of higher infection risk were mainly associated with visitor-carcass contact and visitor contact with feces and urine, rather than direct contact between visitors. Moreover, contact events between scavengers and carnivore carcasses were far more frequent than consumption events, which suggests that scavenger behavior is more constrained by the risk of acquiring meat-borne parasites than non-trophically transmitted parasites. This study contributes to filling key gaps in understanding the role of carrion in the landscape of disgust, which may be especially relevant in the current global context of emerging and re-emerging pathogens. Graphical abstract

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“…Although they have stronger immune responses and suffer less from infections, women are disgusted much more easily than men (for a meta-analysis, see Sparks et al 2018 ; for findings in rodents, see Kavaliers et al 2020 ). Researchers have come up with a number of possible explanations (Al-Shawaf et al 2018 ).…”

Section: The Benefit Of Procreation Against the Cost Of Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent evidence, however, shows that it encourages not only pro social, but also a social and—as we will discuss later—even anti social behavior (De Dreu and Kret 2016 ). In a further twist, oxytocin, its sister vasopressin, and one of the brain areas with which they extensively interact—the amygdala—all turn out to be involved, at least in rodents, in the processing of the odors of others (Wacker and Ludwig 2012 ) and in the regulation of both the physiological and behavioral immune systems (physiological: Li et al 2017 ; Bordt et al 2019 ; behavioral: Choleris et al 2012 ; Kavaliers and Choleris 2018 ; Kavaliers et al 2020 ).…”

Section: The Benefit Of Procreation Against the Cost Of Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infection threat shapes our social instincts

Krämer

Bressan

2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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We social animals must balance the need to avoid infections with the need to interact with conspecifics. To that end we have evolved, alongside our physiological immune system, a suite of behaviors devised to deal with potentially contagious individuals. Focusing mostly on humans, the current review describes the design and biological innards of this behavioral immune system, laying out how infection threat shapes sociality and sociality shapes infection threat. The paper shows how the danger of contagion is detected and posted to the brain; how it affects individuals’ mate choice and sex life; why it strengthens ties within groups but severs those between them, leading to hostility toward anyone who looks, smells, or behaves unusually; and how it permeates the foundation of our moral and political views. This system was already in place when agriculture and animal domestication set off a massive increase in our population density, personal connections, and interaction with other species, amplifying enormously the spread of disease. Alas, pandemics such as COVID-19 not only are a disaster for public health, but, by rousing millions of behavioral immune systems, could prove a threat to harmonious cohabitation too.

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Pathogens, odors, and disgust in rodents

Cited by 27 publications

References 188 publications

Risk-Induced Trait Responses and Non-consumptive Effects in Plants and Animals in Response to Their Invertebrate Herbivore and Parasite Natural Enemies

Risk-Induced Trait Responses and Non-consumptive Effects in Plants and Animals in Response to Their Invertebrate Herbivore and Parasite Natural Enemies

Understanding potential implications for non-trophic parasite transmission based on vertebrate behavior at mesocarnivore carcass sites

Infection threat shapes our social instincts

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