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Home / Equine Research Bank / PLoS One / Species’ life-history traits explain interspecific var...
PloS one2013; 8(1); e54341; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054341

Species’ life-history traits explain interspecific variation in reservoir competence: a possible mechanism underlying the dilution effect.

Abstract: Hosts species for multi-host pathogens show considerable variation in the species' reservoir competence, which is usually used to measure species' potential to maintain and transmit these pathogens. Although accumulating research has proposed a trade-off between life-history strategies and immune defences, only a few studies extended this to host species' reservoir competence. Using a phylogenetic comparative approach, we studied the relationships between some species' life-history traits and reservoir competence in three emerging infectious vector-borne disease systems, namely Lyme disease, West Nile Encephalitis (WNE) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). The results showed that interspecific variation in reservoir competence could be partly explained by the species' life histories. Species with larger body mass (for hosts of Lyme disease and WNE) or smaller clutch size (for hosts of EEE) had a lower reservoir competence [corrected]. Given that both larger body mass and smaller clutch size were linked to higher extinction risk of local populations, our study suggests that with decreasing biodiversity, species with a higher reservoir competence are more likely to remain in the community, and thereby increase the risk of transmitting these pathogens, which might be a possible mechanism underlying the dilution effect.
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Publication Date: 2013-01-24 PubMed ID: 23365661PubMed Central: PMC3554779DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054341Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research investigates the relationship between species’ life traits and their potential to carry and transmit diseases, offering insights on biodiversity loss and the resulting increase in disease transmission risk.

Research Background

  • The primary focus of the study is the interspecific variation in reservoir competence, which signifies the potential of a species to maintain and transmit pathogens. This is especially important for pathogens that can infect multiple host species.
  • There has been previous research suggesting a trade-off between life-history strategies and immune defences. However, very few studies have attempted to correlate this with reservoir competence.

Methodology

  • The researchers used a phylogenetic comparative method to study the relationship between a species’ life-history traits and their reservoir competence.
  • The study includes three emerging infectious vector-borne disease systems: Lyme disease, West Nile Encephalitis (WNE), and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).

Findings

  • The study found that there is indeed a correlation between species life-history traits and reservoir competence.
  • Species with a larger body mass, which are hosts for Lyme disease and WNE, or those with a smaller clutch size (the number of offspring produced at a time), which are EEE hosts, demonstrated a lower reservoir competence.
  • These traits – larger body mass and smaller clutch size – are linked to a higher risk of extinction for local populations.

Implications

  • The research suggests that as biodiversity decreases, species with higher reservoir competence are likely to remain, thereby increasing the risk of transmitting these pathogens.
  • This suggested mechanism may underlie the “dilution effect”, which proposes that a decrease in biodiversity can lead to an increase in disease transmission.

Cite This Article

APA
Huang ZY, de Boer WF, van Langevelde F, Olson V, Blackburn TM, Prins HH. (2013). Species’ life-history traits explain interspecific variation in reservoir competence: a possible mechanism underlying the dilution effect. PLoS One, 8(1), e54341. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054341

Publication

PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
NlmUniqueID: 101285081
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 8
Issue: 1
Pages: e54341
PII: e54341

Researcher Affiliations

Huang, Zheng Y X
  • Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. zheng.huang@wur.nl
de Boer, Willem F
    van Langevelde, Frank
      Olson, Valerie
        Blackburn, Tim M
          Prins, Herbert H T

            MeSH Terms

            • Animals
            • Birds / genetics
            • Birds / microbiology
            • Birds / virology
            • Body Size
            • Borrelia burgdorferi / physiology
            • Clutch Size
            • Disease Reservoirs / microbiology
            • Disease Reservoirs / veterinary
            • Disease Reservoirs / virology
            • Encephalitis Virus, Eastern Equine / physiology
            • Encephalomyelitis, Eastern Equine / genetics
            • Encephalomyelitis, Eastern Equine / virology
            • Genetic Variation
            • Horses / genetics
            • Horses / microbiology
            • Horses / virology
            • Host Specificity
            • Litter Size
            • Lyme Disease / genetics
            • Lyme Disease / microbiology
            • Mammals / genetics
            • Mammals / microbiology
            • Mammals / virology
            • Phylogeny
            • Species Specificity
            • West Nile Fever / genetics
            • West Nile Fever / virology
            • West Nile virus / physiology

            Conflict of Interest Statement

            The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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