Collier Melissa A, Jacoby Ann-Marie, Foroughirad Vivienne, Patterson Eric M, Krzyszczyk Ewa, Wallen Megan M, Miketa Madison L, Karniski Caitlin, Wilkin Sarah, Mann Janet, Bansal Shweta
Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Marine Science and Conservation Division, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, NC, USA.
Commun Biol. 2025 Jun 5;8(1):870. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-08161-1.
Infectious diseases cause mass mortalities in wildlife populations globally, but the impact of host sociality on the spread of pathogens is often unknown. While host behaviors drive pathogen transmission, these behaviors vary individually which impacts both individual- and population-level disease outcomes. For example, delphinid species are regularly affected by serious respiratory diseases, but a lack of social behavior data means the structure of vulnerability in these ecosystem sentinels is poorly understood. To assess the role of variable social behavior on disease risk empirically, we collected behavioral data from two wild bottlenose dolphin populations (Tursiops spp.), developed network models that synthesize transmission contacts, and used an epidemiological model to predict disease consequences. We find that contacts are highly structured by age and sex, and that individuals preferentially contact others in their own demographic group. These patterns, in turn, drive heterogeneity in infection risk, which we support using empirical data from a past disease outbreak. Our work characterizes the impact of social dynamics on infectious disease risk, which can inform the structure of vulnerability for future epizootics across diverse delphinid species.
传染病在全球野生动物种群中导致大量死亡，但宿主社交性对病原体传播的影响往往未知。虽然宿主行为驱动病原体传播，但这些行为存在个体差异，这会影响个体和种群层面的疾病结果。例如，海豚科物种经常受到严重呼吸道疾病的影响，但缺乏社交行为数据意味着对这些生态系统哨兵的脆弱性结构了解不足。为了通过实证评估可变社交行为对疾病风险的作用，我们收集了两个野生宽吻海豚种群（瓶鼻海豚属物种）的行为数据，开发了综合传播接触的网络模型，并使用流行病学模型预测疾病后果。我们发现接触高度受年龄和性别结构影响，并且个体优先与同年龄段群体中的其他个体接触。这些模式反过来又导致感染风险的异质性，我们利用过去一次疾病爆发的实证数据对此进行了支持。我们的工作描述了社会动态对传染病风险的影响，这可为未来不同海豚科物种 epizootics 的脆弱性结构提供参考。
