Roche Benjamin, Rohani P., Dobson A. P., Guégan Jean-François. (2013). The impact of community organization on vector-borne pathogens. American Naturalist, 181 (1), p. 1-11. ISSN 0003-0147.
Titre du document
The impact of community organization on vector-borne pathogens
Roche Benjamin, Rohani P., Dobson A. P., Guégan Jean-François
Source
American Naturalist, 2013,
181 (1), p. 1-11 ISSN 0003-0147
Vector-borne zoonotic disease agents, which are known to often infect multiple species in the wild, have been identified as an emerging threat to human health. Understanding the ecology of these pathogens is especially timely, given the continued anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity. Here, we integrate empirical scaling laws from community ecology within a theoretical reservoir-vector-pathogen framework to study the transmission consequences of host community structure and diversity within large assemblages. We show that heterogeneity in susceptibility of the reservoir species promotes transmission "dilution," while a greater vector species richness "amplifies" it. These contrasting transmission impacts of vector and reservoir communities can yield very different epidemiological patterns. We demonstrate that vector and reservoir species richness can explain per se most of the pathogen transmission observed for West Nile virus in different parts of the United States, giving empirical support for the validity of these opposing theoretically predicted effects. We conclude that, in the context of disease emergence, the integration of a community perspective can provide critical insights into the understanding of pathogen transmission in wildlife.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020]
;
Entomologie médicale / Parasitologie / Virologie [052]
;
Etudes, transformation, conservation du milieu naturel [082]
