Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
J R Soc Interface. 2011 Jun 6;8(59):776-86. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2010.0511. Epub 2010 Oct 28.
Territoriality in animal populations creates spatial structure that is thought to naturally buffer disease invasion. Often, however, territorial populations also include highly mobile, non-residential individuals that potentially serve as disease superspreaders. Using long-term data from the Serengeti Lion Project, we characterize the contact network structure of a territorial wildlife population and address the epidemiological impact of nomadic individuals. As expected, pride contacts are dominated by interactions with neighbouring prides and interspersed by encounters with nomads as they wander throughout the ecosystem. Yet the pride-pride network also includes occasional long-range contacts between prides, making it surprisingly small world and vulnerable to epidemics, even without nomads. While nomads increase both the local and global connectivity of the network, their epidemiological impact is marginal, particularly for diseases with short infectious periods like canine distemper virus. Thus, territoriality in Serengeti lions may be less protective and non-residents less important for disease transmission than previously considered.
动物种群的领域性会产生空间结构，这种结构被认为可以自然缓冲疾病的入侵。然而，通常情况下，具有领域性的种群也包括高度流动的非居留个体，这些个体可能成为疾病的超级传播者。利用塞伦盖蒂狮子项目的长期数据，我们描述了一个具有领域性的野生动物种群的接触网络结构，并探讨了游牧个体的流行病学影响。正如预期的那样，狮群的接触主要是与相邻狮群的相互作用，并且穿插着游牧个体在整个生态系统中漫游时的相遇。然而，狮群之间的网络还包括偶尔的长距离接触，这使得它成为一个非常小的世界，即使没有游牧个体，也容易受到流行病的影响。虽然游牧个体增加了网络的局部和全局连通性，但它们的流行病学影响是微不足道的，特别是对于传染性短的疾病，如犬瘟热病毒。因此，塞伦盖蒂狮子的领域性可能没有以前认为的那么具有保护作用，非居留个体在疾病传播中的重要性也没有以前认为的那么大。
