Re-emphasizing mechanism in the community ecology of disease

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: K.S. Shaw, Emory University; David Civitello, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-07-23
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 British Ecological Society
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13892
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Functional Ecology
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 11
• Start Page: 2376
• End Page: 2386
• Grant/Funding Information: KS was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32AI138952 and Award Number F31AI147611. DJC was supported by NIH 1R01 AI150774-01 and NSF IOS 1755002.
• Keywords: diversity-disease relationship; species interactions; parasite transmission; non-focal species; dilution effect
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Biology, Parasitology; Biology, Ecology

Abstract

1. Hosts and their parasites exist within complex ecological communities. However, the role that non-focal community members, species which cannot be infected by a focal pathogen, may play in altering parasite transmission is often only studied in the lens of the “diversity-disease” relationship by focusing on species richness. This approach largely ignores mechanistic species interactions and risks collapsing our understanding of the community ecology of disease down to defining the prominence of “amplification” vs. “dilution” effects. 2. However, non-focal species vary in their traits, densities, and types of interactions with focal hosts and parasites. Therefore, a community ecology approach based on the mechanisms underlying parasite transmission, host harm, and dynamic species interactions may better advance our understanding of parasite transmission in complex communities. 3. Using the concept of the parasite’s basic reproductive ratio, R0, as a generalizable framework, we examine several critical mechanisms by which interactions among hosts, parasites, and non-focal species modulate transmission and provide examples from relevant literature. 4. By focusing on the mechanism by which non-focal species impact transmission, we can emphasize the similarities among classic paradigms in the community ecology of disease, gain new insights into parasite invasion and persistence, community traits correlated with disease dilution or amplification, and the feasibility of biocontrol for parasites of conservation, agricultural, or human health concern.