Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations
Living with relatives can be highly beneficial, enhancing reproduction and survival. High relatedness can, however, increase susceptibility to pathogens. Here, we examine whether the benefits of living with relatives offset the harm caused by pathogens, and if this depends on whether species typical...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2021-07-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/66649 |
| _version_ | 1828107634320867328 |
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| author | Hanna M Bensch Emily A O'Connor Charlie Kinahan Cornwallis |
| author_facet | Hanna M Bensch Emily A O'Connor Charlie Kinahan Cornwallis |
| author_sort | Hanna M Bensch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Living with relatives can be highly beneficial, enhancing reproduction and survival. High relatedness can, however, increase susceptibility to pathogens. Here, we examine whether the benefits of living with relatives offset the harm caused by pathogens, and if this depends on whether species typically live with kin. Using comparative meta-analysis of plants, animals, and a bacterium (nspecies = 56), we show that high within-group relatedness increases mortality when pathogens are present. In contrast, mortality decreased with relatedness when pathogens were rare, particularly in species that live with kin. Furthermore, across groups variation in mortality was lower when relatedness was high, but abundances of pathogens were more variable. The effects of within-group relatedness were only evident when pathogens were experimentally manipulated, suggesting that the harm caused by pathogens is masked by the benefits of living with relatives in nature. These results highlight the importance of kin selection for understanding disease spread in natural populations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:34:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fefbf39843ac4e058d60f142742c9cd1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:34:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-fefbf39843ac4e058d60f142742c9cd12022-12-22T04:29:21ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2021-07-011010.7554/eLife.66649Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populationsHanna M Bensch0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8449-9843Emily A O'Connor1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-773XCharlie Kinahan Cornwallis2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-3995Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, SwedenDepartment of Biology, Lund University, Lund, SwedenDepartment of Biology, Lund University, Lund, SwedenLiving with relatives can be highly beneficial, enhancing reproduction and survival. High relatedness can, however, increase susceptibility to pathogens. Here, we examine whether the benefits of living with relatives offset the harm caused by pathogens, and if this depends on whether species typically live with kin. Using comparative meta-analysis of plants, animals, and a bacterium (nspecies = 56), we show that high within-group relatedness increases mortality when pathogens are present. In contrast, mortality decreased with relatedness when pathogens were rare, particularly in species that live with kin. Furthermore, across groups variation in mortality was lower when relatedness was high, but abundances of pathogens were more variable. The effects of within-group relatedness were only evident when pathogens were experimentally manipulated, suggesting that the harm caused by pathogens is masked by the benefits of living with relatives in nature. These results highlight the importance of kin selection for understanding disease spread in natural populations.https://elifesciences.org/articles/66649relatednesspathogenssocial behaviourgenetic diversitykin selectioncomparative meta-analysis |
| spellingShingle | Hanna M Bensch Emily A O'Connor Charlie Kinahan Cornwallis Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations eLife relatedness pathogens social behaviour genetic diversity kin selection comparative meta-analysis |
| title | Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations |
| title_full | Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations |
| title_fullStr | Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations |
| title_short | Living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations |
| title_sort | living with relatives offsets the harm caused by pathogens in natural populations |
| topic | relatedness pathogens social behaviour genetic diversity kin selection comparative meta-analysis |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/66649 |
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