Linking parasitism to network centrality and the impact of sampling bias in its interpretation.

ABSTRACT: Group living is beneficial for individuals, but also comes with costs. One such cost is the increased possibility of pathogen transmission because increased numbers or frequencies of social contacts are often associated with increased parasite abundance or diversity. The social structure of a group or population is paramount to patterns of infection and transmission. Yet, for various reasons, studies investigating the links between sociality and parasitism in animals, especially in primates, have only accounted for parts of the group (e.g., only adults), which is likely to impact the interpretation of results. Here, we investigated the relationship between social network centrality and an estimate of gastrointestinal helminth infection intensity in a whole group of Japanese macaques

SUBMITTER: Xu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9677876 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature