ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9678-1694
Current Organisation
Princeton University
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2005
DOI: 10.1890/04-0880
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 24-04-2017
Abstract: As bio ersity declines with anthropogenic land-use change, it is increasingly important to understand how changing bio ersity affects infectious disease risk. The dilution effect hypothesis, which points to decreases in bio ersity as critical to an increase in infection risk, has received considerable attention due to the allure of a win–win scenario for conservation and human well-being. Yet some empirical data suggest that the dilution effect is not a generalizable phenomenon. We explore the response of pathogen transmission dynamics to changes in bio ersity that are driven by habitat loss using an allometrically scaled multi-host model. With this model, we show that declining habitat, and thus declining bio ersity, can lead to either increasing or decreasing infectious-disease risk, measured as endemic prevalence. Whether larger habitats, and thus greater bio ersity, lead to a decrease (dilution effect) or increase ( lification effect) in infection prevalence depends upon the pathogen transmission mode and how host competence scales with body size. Dilution effects were detected for most frequency-transmitted pathogens and lification effects were detected for density-dependent pathogens. Amplification effects were also observed over a particular range of habitat loss in frequency-dependent pathogens when we assumed that host competence was greatest in large-bodied species. By contrast, only lification effects were observed for density-dependent pathogens host competency only affected the magnitude of the effect. These models can be used to guide future empirical studies of bio ersity–disease relationships across gradients of habitat loss. The type of transmission, the relationship between host competence and community assembly, the identity of hosts contributing to transmission, and how transmission scales with area are essential factors to consider when elucidating the mechanisms driving disease risk in shrinking habitat. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Conservation, bio ersity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications'.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-11-2003
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-1995
DOI: 10.1016/S0169-5347(00)89050-3
Abstract: Ecologists have recently begun to acknowledge the importance of disease and parasites in the dynamics of populations. Diseases and parasites have probably been responsible for a number of extinctions on islands and on large land masses, but the problem has only been identified in retrospect. In contrast, endemic pathogens and parasites may operate as keystone species, playing a crucial role in maintaining the ersity of ecological communities and ecosystems. Will recent advances in the understanding of parasite population biology allow us to predict threats to endangered species and communities?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-04-2019
Abstract: Bats are reservoirs for emerging human pathogens, including Hendra and Nipah henipaviruses and Ebola and Marburg filoviruses. These viruses demonstrate predictable patterns in seasonality and age structure across multiple systems previous work suggests that they may circulate in Madagascar's endemic fruit bats, which are widely consumed as human food. We aimed to (a) document the extent of henipa‐ and filovirus exposure among Malagasy fruit bats, (b) explore seasonality in seroprevalence and serostatus in these bat populations and (c) compare mechanistic hypotheses for possible transmission dynamics underlying these data. To this end, we amassed and analysed a unique dataset documenting longitudinal serological henipa‐ and filovirus dynamics in three Madagascar fruit bat species. We uncovered serological evidence of exposure to Hendra‐/Nipah‐related henipaviruses in Eidolon dupreanum, Pteropus rufus and Rousettus madagascariensis, to Cedar‐related henipaviruses in E. dupreanum and R. madagascariensis and to Ebola‐related filoviruses in P. rufus and R. madagascariensis . We demonstrated significant seasonality in population‐level seroprevalence and in idual serostatus for multiple viruses across these species, linked to the female reproductive calendar. An age‐structured subset of the data highlighted evidence of waning maternal antibodies in neonates, increasing seroprevalence in young and decreasing seroprevalence late in life. Comparison of mechanistic epidemiological models fit to these data offered support for transmission hypotheses permitting waning antibodies but retained immunity in adult‐age bats. Our findings suggest that bats may seasonally modulate mechanisms of pathogen control, with consequences for population‐level transmission. Additionally, we narrow the field of candidate transmission hypotheses by which bats are presumed to host and transmit potentially zoonotic viruses globally.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Andy Dobson.