Food provisioning alters infection dynamics in populations of a wild rodent.

ABSTRACT: While pathogens are often assumed to limit the growth of wildlife populations, experimental evidence for their effects is rare. A lack of food resources has been suggested to enhance the negative effects of pathogen infection on host populations, but this theory has received little investigation. We conducted a replicated two-factor enclosure experiment, with introduction of the bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica and food supplementation, to evaluate the individual and interactive effects of pathogen infection and food availability on vole populations during a boreal winter. We show that prior to bacteria introduction, vole populations were limited by food availability. Bordetella bronchiseptica introduction then reduced population growth and abundance, but contrary to predictions, primar

SUBMITTER: Forbes KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4614785 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature