Re‐emphasizing mechanism in the community ecology of disease

Shaw, K E; Civitello, David J.

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13892

Cited by 8 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 85 publications

(127 reference statements)

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“…From the perspective of the snail, the body size of immediate neighbors is also critically important for transmission: small snails had lower prevalence of schistosomes when in populations with a greater proportion of large conspecifics. This observation supports the hypothesis that individuals with relatively high exposure rates to parasites can shield their conspecifics from infection, a form of transmission interference akin to the much-discussed dilution effect that is typically considered in multispecies host communities (Keesing et al 2006;Shaw & Civitello 2021).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

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Parasite transmission in size-structured populations

Shaw

Cloud

Syed

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Host heterogeneity can impact parasite transmission, but determining underlying traits and incorporating them into transmission models remains challenging. Body size is easily measured and influences numerous ecological interactions, including transmission. In the snail-schistosome system, larger snails have a higher exposure to parasites but lower susceptibility to infection per parasite. We quantified the impact of size-based heterogeneity on population-level transmission by conducting transmission trials in differently size-structured snail populations and competing size-dependent transmission models. Populations with greater proportions of large snails had lower prevalence, and small snails were shielded from infection by co-occurring large conspecifics. Using the winning size-explicit model, we then estimated that schistosome transmission potential varies dramatically across time due to seasonal changes in snail population size structure. Thus, incorporating traits such as body size, which are impacted by and directly affect host ecology, into transmission models could yield insights for natural dynamics and disease mitigation in many systems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…This observation supports the hypothesis that individuals with relatively high exposure rates to parasites can shield their conspecifics from infection, a form of transmission interference akin to the much-discussed dilution effect that is typically considered in multi-species host communities (Keesing et al . 2006; Shaw & Civitello 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasite transmission in size-structured populations

Shaw

Cloud

Syed

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…That non-host consumers could reduce parasite transmission was identified early on as a key consequence stemming from this type of biotic interference (e.g. Rowan, 1958; reviews by Thieltges et al , 2008b, 2013; Johnson et al , 2010) and the general ability of predators to affect infectious disease dynamics has now been broadly recognized and documented (see reviews by Lopez & Duffy, 2021; Shaw & Civitello, 2021). The use of non-host predators for biocontrol thus holds much potential as a strategy to manage certain infectious diseases (Burge et al , 2016; Lopez & Duffy, 2021; Shaw & Civitello, 2021).…”

Section: Community-level Implications Of Cercariae Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reduced transmission is a major potential consequence of cercariae removal from the environment and there has been substantial interest in using cercariae consumers as a form of biocontrol (Lopez & Duffy, 2021; Shaw & Civitello, 2021). This said, most reports of cercariae consumption do not investigate whether this affected transmission to downstream hosts.…”

Section: Gaps In Knowledge and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As further examples, various freshwater zooplankton consume juvenile nematodes (Achinelly et al , 2003) and the fungal zoospores that cause chytridiomycosis in amphibians (Searle et al , 2013), while numerous free-living amoebae predate upon pathogenic bacteria (Bornier et al , 2021). By reducing encounter with potential hosts, the consumption of free-living parasite stages also has broad implications for infectious disease dynamics, from modifications in transmission to intensity-dependent pathology (Johnson et al , 2010; Lopez & Duffy, 2021; Shaw & Civitello, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consumption of trematode parasite infectious stages: from conceptual synthesis to future research agenda

2023

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Given their sheer cumulative biomass and ubiquitous presence, parasites are increasingly recognized as essential components of most food webs. Beyond their influence as consumers of host tissue, many parasites also have free-living infectious stages that may be ingested by non-host organisms, with implications for energy and nutrient transfer, as well as for pathogen transmission and infectious disease dynamics. This has been particularly well-documented for the cercaria free-living stage of digenean trematode parasites within the Phylum Platyhelminthes. Here, we aim to synthesize the current state of knowledge regarding cercariae consumption by examining: (a) approaches for studying cercariae consumption; (b) the range of consumers and trematode prey documented thus far; (c) factors influencing the likelihood of cercariae consumption; (d) consequences of cercariae consumption for individual predators (e.g. their viability as a food source); and (e) implications of cercariae consumption for entire communities and ecosystems (e.g. transmission, nutrient cycling and influences on other prey). We detected 121 unique consumer-by-cercaria combinations that spanned 60 species of consumer and 35 trematode species. Meaningful reductions in transmission were seen for 31 of 36 combinations that considered this; however, separate studies with the same cercaria and consumer sometimes showed different results. Along with addressing knowledge gaps and suggesting future research directions, we highlight how the conceptual and empirical approaches discussed here for consumption of cercariae are relevant for the infectious stages of other parasites and pathogens, illustrating the use of cercariae as a model system to help advance our knowledge regarding the general importance of parasite consumption.

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Parasite transmission in size‐structured populations

Shaw,

Cloud,

Syed

et al. 2023

Ecology

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Host heterogeneity can affect parasite transmission, but determining underlying traits and incorporating them into transmission models remains challenging. Body size is easily measured and affects numerous ecological interactions, including transmission. In the snail–schistosome system, larger snails have a higher exposure to parasites but lower susceptibility to infection per parasite. We quantified the effect of size‐based heterogeneity on population‐level transmission by conducting transmission trials in differently size‐structured snail populations and competing size‐dependent transmission models. Populations with greater proportions of large snails had lower prevalence, and small snails were shielded from infection by co‐occurring large conspecifics. Furthermore, a fully dependent transmission model that incorporated body size in both exposure and susceptibility outperformed other candidate models considered. Incorporating traits such as body size, which are affected by and directly affect host ecology, into transmission models could yield insights into natural dynamics and disease mitigation in many systems.

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Re‐emphasizing mechanism in the community ecology of disease

Abstract: This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

Cited by 8 publications

References 85 publications

Parasite transmission in size-structured populations

Parasite transmission in size-structured populations

Consumption of trematode parasite infectious stages: from conceptual synthesis to future research agenda

Parasite transmission in size‐structured populations

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