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Social structure contains epidemics and regulates individual roles in disease transmission in a group-living mammal.

ABSTRACT: Population structure is critical to infectious disease transmission. As a result, theoretical and empirical contact network models of infectious disease spread are increasingly providing valuable insights into wildlife epidemiology. Analyzing an exceptionally detailed dataset on contact structure within a high-density population of European badgers Meles meles, we show that a modular contact network produced by spatially structured stable social groups, lead to smaller epidemics, particularly for infections with intermediate transmissibility. The key advance is that we identify considerable variation among individuals in their role in disease spread, with these new insights made possible by the detail in the badger dataset. Furthermore, the important impacts on epidemiology are found even though the modularity of the Badger network is much lower than the threshold that previous work suggested was necessary. These findings reveal the importance of stable social group structure for disease dynamics with important management implications for socially structured populations.

SUBMITTER: Rozins C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6303749 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Social structure contains epidemics and regulates individual roles in disease transmission in a group-living mammal.

Rozins Carly C Silk Matthew J MJ Croft Darren P DP Delahay Richard J RJ Hodgson Dave J DJ McDonald Robbie A RA Weber Nicola N Boots Mike M

Ecology and evolution 20181111 23

Population structure is critical to infectious disease transmission. As a result, theoretical and empirical contact network models of infectious disease spread are increasingly providing valuable insights into wildlife epidemiology. Analyzing an exceptionally detailed dataset on contact structure within a high-density population of European badgers <i>Meles meles,</i> we show that a modular contact network produced by spatially structured stable social groups, lead to smaller epidemics, particul ...[more]

PMID: 30598798

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Project description:Group living is widespread among animal species and yields both costs and benefits. Presence of conspecifics can restrict or enhance the expression of individual behavior, and the recent social environment is thought to affect behavioral responses in later contexts, even when individuals are alone. However, little is known about how social group size influences the expression of individual physiological traits, including metabolic rates. There is some evidence that shoaling can reduce fish metabolic rates but this variable may be affected by habitat conditions such as shelter availability via density-dependent processes. We investigated how social group size and shelter availability influence Eurasian minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) metabolic rates estimated by respirometry. Respirometry trials were conducted on fish in isolation before and after they were housed for 3 weeks in a social treatment consisting in a specific group size (n = 4 or 8) and shelter availability (presence or absence of plant shelter in the experimental tank). Plant shelter was placed over respirometers for half of the duration of the respirometry trials, allowing estimation of minimum daytime and nighttime metabolic rates in both conditions (in the presence or absence of plant shelter). Standard metabolic rate (SMR), maximum metabolic rate (MMR), and aerobic scope were also estimated over the entire trial. Minimum daytime and nighttime metabolic rates estimated while in presence of plant shelter were lower than when estimated in absence of plant shelter, both before and after individuals were housed in their social treatment. After the social treatment, SMRs were higher for fish that were held in groups of 4 as compared with those of fish held in groups of 8, while MMR showed no difference. Plant shelter availability during the social treatments did not influence SMR or MMR. Our results suggest that social group size may directly influence energy demands of individuals, highlighting the importance of understanding the role of group size on variations in physiological traits associated with energy expenditure.

Dataset Information

Social structure contains epidemics and regulates individual roles in disease transmission in a group-living mammal.

Publications

Social structure contains epidemics and regulates individual roles in disease transmission in a group-living mammal.

Similar Datasets

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