Predicted and observed mortality from vector-borne disease in wildlife: West Nile virus and small songbirds

Kilpatrick, A. Marm; Peters, Ryan J.; Dupuis, Alan P.; Jones, Matthew; Daszak, Peter; Marra, Peter P.; Kramer, Laura D.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.05.015

Cited by 25 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…7,8 In addition, WNV has caused widespread mortality and substantial declines in populations of several bird species. [9][10][11] Culex mosquitoes are considered to be the most important vectors for WNV transmission, 12,13 and the abundance of infected Culex mosquitoes is strongly correlated with the number of human WNV cases. 14,15 Several studies have previously examined the effect of land use on several aspects of WNV transmission.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased Human Incidence of West Nile Virus Disease near Rice Fields in California but Not in Southern United States

Kovach

Kilpatrick

2018

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Anthropogenic land use change, including agriculture, can alter mosquito larval habitat quality, increase mosquito abundance, and increase incidence of vector-borne disease. Rice is a staple food crop for more than half of the world's population, with ∼1% of global production occurring within the United States (US). Flooded rice fields provide enormous areas of larval habitat for mosquito species and may be hotspots for mosquito-borne pathogens, including West Nile virus (WNV). West Nile virus was introduced into the Americas in 1999 and causes yearly epidemics in the US with an average of approximately 1,400 neuroinvasive cases and 130 deaths per year. We examined correlations between rice cultivation and WNV disease incidence in rice-growing regions within the US. Incidence of WNV disease increased with the fraction of each county under rice cultivation in California but not in the southern US. We show that this is likely due to regional variation in the mosquitoes transmitting WNV. was an important vector of WNV in California, and its abundance increased with rice cultivation, whereas in rice-growing areas of the southern US, the dominant WNV vector was, which rarely breeds in rice fields. These results illustrate how cultivation of particular crops can increase disease risk and how spatial variation in vector ecology can alter the relationship between land cover and disease.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased Human Incidence of West Nile Virus Disease near Rice Fields in California but Not in Southern United States

Kovach

Kilpatrick

2018

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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“…fail to reproduce from disease [9,15]. Disease management can target either or both of these components [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of variation in species impacts for a multi-host fungal disease of bats

Langwig

Frick

Hoyt

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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107

145

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Disease can play an important role in structuring species communities because the effects of disease vary among hosts; some species are driven towards extinction, while others suffer relatively little impact. Why disease impacts vary among host species remains poorly understood for most multi-host pathogens, and factors allowing less-susceptible species to persist could be useful in conserving highly affected species. White-nose syndrome (WNS), an emerging fungal disease of bats, has decimated some species while sympatric and closely related species have experienced little effect. We analysed data on infection prevalence, fungal loads and environmental factors to determine how variation in infection among sympatric host species influenced the severity of WNS population impacts. Intense transmission resulted in almost uniformly high prevalence in all species. By contrast, fungal loads varied over 3 orders of magnitude among species, and explained 98% of the variation among species in disease impacts. Fungal loads increased with hibernating roosting temperatures, with bats roosting at warmer temperatures having higher fungal loads and suffering greater WNS impacts. We also found evidence of a threshold fungal load, above which the probability of mortality may increase sharply, and this threshold was similar for multiple species. This study demonstrates how differences in behavioural traits among species—in this case microclimate preferences—that may have been previously adaptive can be deleterious after the introduction of a new pathogen. Management to reduce pathogen loads rather than exposure may be an effective way of reducing disease impact and preventing species extinctions. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience’.

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“…We found little evidence of WNV impacting Virginia rails (Appendix : S37); WNV infection and mortality rates vary substantially among avian species (Kilpatrick et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Integrating social and ecological data to model metapopulation dynamics in coupled human and natural systems

Schmidt

Kovach

Kilpatrick

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Understanding how metapopulations persist in dynamic working landscapes requires assessing the behaviors of key actors that change patches as well as intrinsic factors driving turnover. Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) research uses a multidisciplinary approach to identify the key actors, processes, and feedbacks that drive metapopulation and landscape dynamics. We describe a framework for modeling metapopulations in CHANS that integrates ecological and social data by coupling stochastic patch occupancy models of metapopulation dynamics with agent‐based models of land‐use change. We then apply this framework to metapopulations of the threatened black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) and widespread Virginia rail (Rallus limicola) that inhabit patchy, irrigation‐fed wetlands in the rangelands of the California Sierra Nevada foothills. We collected data from five diverse sources (rail occupancy surveys, land‐use change mapping, a survey of landowner decision making, climate and reservoir databases, and mosquito trapping and West Nile virus testing) and integrated them into an agent‐based stochastic patch occupancy model. We used the model to (1) quantify the drivers of metapopulation dynamics, and the potential interactions and feedbacks among them; (2) test predictions of the behavior of metapopulations in dynamic working landscapes; and (3) evaluate the impact of three policy options on metapopulation persistence (irrigation district water cutbacks during drought, incentives for landowners to create wetlands, and incentives for landowners to protect wetlands). Complex metapopulation dynamics emerged when landscapes functioned as CHANS, highlighting the importance of integrating human activities and other ecological processes into metapopulation models. Rail metapopulations were strongly top‐down regulated by precipitation, and the black rail's decade‐long decline was caused by the combination of West Nile virus and drought. Theoretical predictions of the two metapopulations’ responses to dynamic landscapes and incentive programs were complicated by heterogeneity in patch quality and CHANS couplings, respectively. Irrigation cutbacks during drought posed a serious extinction risk that neither incentive policy effectively ameliorated.

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Predicted and observed mortality from vector-borne disease in wildlife: West Nile virus and small songbirds

Cited by 25 publications

References 51 publications

Increased Human Incidence of West Nile Virus Disease near Rice Fields in California but Not in Southern United States

Increased Human Incidence of West Nile Virus Disease near Rice Fields in California but Not in Southern United States

Drivers of variation in species impacts for a multi-host fungal disease of bats

Integrating social and ecological data to model metapopulation dynamics in coupled human and natural systems

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