An island paradigm on the mainland: host population fragmentation impairs the community of avian pathogens |
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Authors: | Vögeli Matthias Lemus Jesús A Serrano David Blanco Guillermo Tella José L |
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Institution: | 1Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), c/Américo Vespucio s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain;2Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Canada, S7N 5E2;3Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), c/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain |
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Abstract: | Emergent infectious diseases represent a major threat for biodiversity in fragmented habitat networks, but their dynamics in host metapopulations remain largely unexplored. We studied a large community of pathogens (including 26 haematozoans, bacteria and viruses as determined through polymerase chain reaction assays) in a highly fragmented mainland bird metapopulation. Contrary to recent studies, which have established that the prevalence of pathogens increase with habitat fragmentation owing to crowding and habitat-edge effects, the analysed pathogen parameters were neither dependent on host densities nor related to the spatial structure of the metapopulation. We provide, to our knowledge, the first empirical evidence for a positive effect of host population size on pathogen prevalence, richness and diversity. These new insights into the interplay between habitat fragmentation and pathogens reveal properties of a host-pathogen system resembling island environments, suggesting that severe habitat loss and fragmentation could lower pathogen pressure in small populations. |
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Keywords: | habitat fragmentation emerging infectious diseases host population size host–pathogen metapopulation models Chersophilus duponti Dupont''s lark |
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