Effects of host extinction and vector preferences on vector-borne disease risk in phylogenetically structured host-hector communities.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic disturbance impacts the phylogenetic composition and diversity of ecological communities. While changes in diversity are known to dramatically change species interactions and alter disease dynamics, the effects of phylogenetic changes in host and vector communities on disease have been relatively poorly studied. Using a theoretical model, we investigated how phylogeny and extinction influence network structural characteristics relevant to disease transmission in disturbed environments. We modelled a multi-host, multi-vector community as a bipartite ecological network, where nodes represent host and vector species and edges represent connections among them through vector feeding, and we simulated vector preferences and threat status on host and parasite phylogenies. We then si

SUBMITTER: Nunn CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8382198 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature