Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes
Abstract Understanding how biodiversity affects pathogen transmission remains an unresolved question due to the challenges in testing potential mechanisms in natural systems and how these mechanisms vary across biological scales. By quantifying transmission of an entire guild of parasites (larval tr...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46091-4 |
| _version_ | 1797274184372453376 |
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| author | Pieter T. J. Johnson Tara E. Stewart Merrill Andrew D. Dean Andy Fenton |
| author_facet | Pieter T. J. Johnson Tara E. Stewart Merrill Andrew D. Dean Andy Fenton |
| author_sort | Pieter T. J. Johnson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Understanding how biodiversity affects pathogen transmission remains an unresolved question due to the challenges in testing potential mechanisms in natural systems and how these mechanisms vary across biological scales. By quantifying transmission of an entire guild of parasites (larval trematodes) within 902 amphibian host communities, we show that the community-level drivers of infection depend critically on biological scale. At the individual host scale, increases in host richness led to fewer parasites per host for all parasite taxa, with no effect of host or predator densities. At the host community scale, however, the inhibitory effects of richness were counteracted by associated increases in total host density, leading to no overall change in parasite densities. Mechanistically, we find that while average host competence declined with increasing host richness, total community competence remained stable due to additive assembly patterns. These results help reconcile disease-diversity debates by empirically disentangling the roles of alternative ecological drivers of parasite transmission and how such effects depend on biological scale. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:54:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aa4fbc2b3754410aa75d091277d83382 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:54:46Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-aa4fbc2b3754410aa75d091277d833822024-03-05T19:31:28ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-03-0115111110.1038/s41467-024-46091-4Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomesPieter T. J. Johnson0Tara E. Stewart Merrill1Andrew D. Dean2Andy Fenton3Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of ColoradoEcology and Evolutionary Biology, University of ColoradoInstitute of Infection, Veterinary & Ecological Sciences, University of LiverpoolInstitute of Infection, Veterinary & Ecological Sciences, University of LiverpoolAbstract Understanding how biodiversity affects pathogen transmission remains an unresolved question due to the challenges in testing potential mechanisms in natural systems and how these mechanisms vary across biological scales. By quantifying transmission of an entire guild of parasites (larval trematodes) within 902 amphibian host communities, we show that the community-level drivers of infection depend critically on biological scale. At the individual host scale, increases in host richness led to fewer parasites per host for all parasite taxa, with no effect of host or predator densities. At the host community scale, however, the inhibitory effects of richness were counteracted by associated increases in total host density, leading to no overall change in parasite densities. Mechanistically, we find that while average host competence declined with increasing host richness, total community competence remained stable due to additive assembly patterns. These results help reconcile disease-diversity debates by empirically disentangling the roles of alternative ecological drivers of parasite transmission and how such effects depend on biological scale.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46091-4 |
| spellingShingle | Pieter T. J. Johnson Tara E. Stewart Merrill Andrew D. Dean Andy Fenton Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes Nature Communications |
| title | Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes |
| title_full | Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes |
| title_fullStr | Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes |
| title_short | Diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes |
| title_sort | diverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity disease outcomes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46091-4 |
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