Daniel C. Suh, Katie Schroeder, Alexander T. Strauss
{"title":"Temperature and Resources Interact to Affect Transmission via Host Foraging Rate and Susceptibility","authors":"Daniel C. Suh, Katie Schroeder, Alexander T. Strauss","doi":"10.1111/ele.70151","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Environmental conditions such as temperature and resource availability can shape disease transmission by altering contact rates and/or the probability of infection given contact. However, interactive effects of these factors on transmission processes remain poorly understood. We develop mechanistic models and fit them to experimental data to uncover how temperature and resources jointly affect transmission of fungal parasites (<i>Metschnikowia bicuspidata</i>) in zooplankton hosts (<i>Daphnia dentifera</i>). Model competition revealed interactive effects of temperature and resources on both contact rates (host foraging) and the probability of infection given contact (per-parasite susceptibility). Foraging rates increased with temperature and decreased with resources (via type-II functional response), but this resource effect weakened at warmer temperatures due to shorter handling times. Per-parasite susceptibility increased with resources at cooler temperatures but remained consistently high when warmer. Our analysis demonstrates that temperature and resources interact to shape transmission processes and provides a general theoretical framework for other host–parasite systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":161,"journal":{"name":"Ecology Letters","volume":"28 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.70151","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecology Letters","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.70151","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Environmental conditions such as temperature and resource availability can shape disease transmission by altering contact rates and/or the probability of infection given contact. However, interactive effects of these factors on transmission processes remain poorly understood. We develop mechanistic models and fit them to experimental data to uncover how temperature and resources jointly affect transmission of fungal parasites (Metschnikowia bicuspidata) in zooplankton hosts (Daphnia dentifera). Model competition revealed interactive effects of temperature and resources on both contact rates (host foraging) and the probability of infection given contact (per-parasite susceptibility). Foraging rates increased with temperature and decreased with resources (via type-II functional response), but this resource effect weakened at warmer temperatures due to shorter handling times. Per-parasite susceptibility increased with resources at cooler temperatures but remained consistently high when warmer. Our analysis demonstrates that temperature and resources interact to shape transmission processes and provides a general theoretical framework for other host–parasite systems.
期刊介绍:
Ecology Letters serves as a platform for the rapid publication of innovative research in ecology. It considers manuscripts across all taxa, biomes, and geographic regions, prioritizing papers that investigate clearly stated hypotheses. The journal publishes concise papers of high originality and general interest, contributing to new developments in ecology. Purely descriptive papers and those that only confirm or extend previous results are discouraged.