Suh Daniel C, Lance Stacey L, Park Andrew W
Odum School of Ecology University of Georgia Athens Georgia USA.
Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases University of Georgia Athens Georgia USA.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Aug 16;14(8):e70167. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70167. eCollection 2024 Aug.
The joint influence of abiotic and biotic factors is important for understanding the transmission of generalist pathogens. Abiotic factors such as temperature can directly influence pathogen persistence in the environment and will also affect biotic factors, such as host community composition and abundance. At intermediate spatial scales, the effects of temperature, community composition, and host abundance are expected to contribute to generalist pathogen transmission. We use a simple transmission model to explain and predict how host community composition, host abundance, and environmental pathogen persistence times can independently and jointly influence transmission. Our transmission model clarifies how abiotic and biotic factors can synergistically support the transmission of a pathogen. The empirical data show that high community competence, high abundance, and low temperatures correlate with high levels of transmission of ranavirus in larval amphibian communities. Discrete wetlands inhabited by larval amphibians in the presence of ranavirus provide a compelling case study comprising distinct host communities at a spatial scale anticipated to demonstrate abiotic and biotic influence on transmission. We use these host communities to observe phenomena demonstrated in our theoretical model. These findings emphasize the importance of considering both abiotic and biotic factors, and concomitant direct and indirect mechanisms, in the study of pathogen transmission and should extend to other generalist pathogens with the capacity for environmental transmission.
非生物因素和生物因素的共同影响对于理解泛病原体的传播至关重要。温度等非生物因素可直接影响病原体在环境中的持久性，也会影响生物因素，如宿主群落组成和丰度。在中等空间尺度上，温度、群落组成和宿主丰度的影响预计会促进泛病原体的传播。我们使用一个简单的传播模型来解释和预测宿主群落组成、宿主丰度和环境病原体持续时间如何独立和共同影响传播。我们的传播模型阐明了非生物因素和生物因素如何协同支持病原体的传播。实证数据表明，在两栖类幼体群落中，高群落竞争力、高丰度和低温与蛙病毒的高传播水平相关。在存在蛙病毒的情况下，由两栖类幼体栖息的离散湿地提供了一个引人注目的案例研究，它在一个预期能证明非生物和生物因素对传播有影响的空间尺度上包含了不同的宿主群落。我们利用这些宿主群落来观察我们理论模型中所展示的现象。这些发现强调了在病原体传播研究中考虑非生物和生物因素以及相应的直接和间接机制的重要性，并且这一重要性应扩展到其他具有环境传播能力的泛病原体。
