Habitat quality influences pollinator pathogen prevalence through both habitat-disease and biodiversity-disease pathways.

ABSTRACT: The dilution effect hypothesis posits that increasing biodiversity reduces infectious disease transmission. Here, we propose that habitat quality might modulate this negative biodiversity-disease relationship. Habitat may influence pathogen prevalence directly by affecting host traits like nutrition and immune response (we coined the term "habitat-disease relationship" to describe this phenomenon) or indirectly by changing host biodiversity (biodiversity-disease relationship). We used a path model to test the relative strength of links between habitat, biodiversity, and pathogen prevalence in a pollinator-virus system. High-quality habitat metrics were directly associated with viral prevalence, providing evidence for a habitat-disease relationship. However, the strength and direction of sp

SUBMITTER: Fearon ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10078577 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature