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Creighton MJA, Lerch BA, Lange EC, Silk JB, Tung J, Archie EA, Alberts SC. Re-evaluating the relationship between female social bonds and infant survival in wild baboons. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.08.20.608854. [PMID: 39229020 PMCID: PMC11370375 DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.20.608854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2024]
Abstract
Over the past few decades studies have provided strong evidence that the robust links between the social environment, health, and survival found in humans also extend to non-human social animals. A number of these studies emphasize the early life origins of these effects. For example, in several social mammals, more socially engaged mothers have infants with higher rates of survival compared to less socially engaged mothers, suggesting that positive maternal social relationships causally improve offspring survival. Here we show that the relationship between infant survival and maternal sociality is confounded by previously underappreciated variation in female social behavior linked to changes in reproductive state and the presence of a live infant. Using data from a population of wild baboons living in the Amboseli basin of Kenya - a population where high levels of maternal sociality have previously been linked to improved infant survival - we find that infant- and reproductive state-dependent changes in female social behavior drive a statistically significant relationship between maternal sociality and infant survival. After accounting for these state-dependent changes in social behavior, maternal sociality is no longer positively associated with infant survival in this population. Our results emphasize the importance of considering multiple explanatory pathways-including third-variable effects-when studying the social determinants of health in natural populations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brian A Lerch
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Elizabeth C Lange
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, NY, USA
| | - Joan B Silk
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Institute for Humans Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jenny Tung
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Duke University Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elizabeth A Archie
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Susan C Alberts
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Duke University Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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2
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Kappeler PM, Fichtel C. Independent fitness consequences of group size variation in Verreaux's sifakas. Commun Biol 2024; 7:816. [PMID: 38965399 PMCID: PMC11224245 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06484-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024] Open
Abstract
The costs and benefits of group living are also reflected in intraspecific variation in group size. Yet, little is known about general patterns of fitness consequences of this variation. We use demographic records collected over 25 years to determine how survival and reproductive success vary with group size in a Malagasy primate. We show that female reproductive rates of Verreaux's sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) are not affected by total group size, but that they are supressed by the number of co-resident females, whereas mortality rates are significantly higher in larger groups. Neither annual rainfall nor the adult sex ratio have significant effects on birth and death rates. Hence, these sifakas enjoy the greatest net fitness benefits at small, and not the predicted intermediate group sizes. Thus, independent fitness proxies can vary independently as a function of group size as well as other factors, leading to deviations from optimal intermediate group sizes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter M Kappeler
- Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
- Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University Göttingen, Kellnerweg 6, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Claudia Fichtel
- Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
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3
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Martignoni MM, Raulo A, Linkovski O, Kolodny O. SIR+ models: accounting for interaction-dependent disease susceptibility in the planning of public health interventions. Sci Rep 2024; 14:12908. [PMID: 38839831 PMCID: PMC11153654 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63008-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Avoiding physical contact is regarded as one of the safest and most advisable strategies to follow to reduce pathogen spread. The flip side of this approach is that a lack of social interactions may negatively affect other dimensions of health, like induction of immunosuppressive anxiety and depression or preventing interactions of importance with a diversity of microbes, which may be necessary to train our immune system or to maintain its normal levels of activity. These may in turn negatively affect a population's susceptibility to infection and the incidence of severe disease. We suggest that future pandemic modelling may benefit from relying on 'SIR+ models': epidemiological models extended to account for the benefits of social interactions that affect immune resilience. We develop an SIR+ model and discuss which specific interventions may be more effective in balancing the trade-off between minimizing pathogen spread and maximizing other interaction-dependent health benefits. Our SIR+ model reflects the idea that health is not just the mere absence of disease, but rather a state of physical, mental and social well-being that can also be dependent on the same social connections that allow pathogen spread, and the modelling of public health interventions for future pandemics should account for this multidimensionality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria M Martignoni
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Faculty of Sciences, A. Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Aura Raulo
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Computing, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Omer Linkovski
- Department of Psychology and The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
| | - Oren Kolodny
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Faculty of Sciences, A. Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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4
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Entezami M, Mustaqqim F, Morris E, Lim ESH, Prada JM, Paramasivam SJ. Effect of Human Activity and Presence on the Behavior of Long-Tailed Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis) in an Urban Tourism Site in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia. Animals (Basel) 2024; 14:1173. [PMID: 38672321 PMCID: PMC11047574 DOI: 10.3390/ani14081173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The increasing overlap of resources between human and long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) (LTM) populations have escalated human-primate conflict. In Malaysia, LTMs are labeled as a 'pest' species due to the macaques' opportunistic nature. This study investigates the activity budget of LTMs in an urban tourism site and how human activities influence it. Observational data were collected from LTMs daily for a period of four months. The observed behaviors were compared across differing levels of human interaction, between different times of day, and between high, medium, and low human traffic zones. LTMs exhibited varying ecological behavior patterns when observed across zones of differing human traffic, e.g., higher inactivity when human presence is high. More concerning is the impact on these animals' welfare and group dynamics as the increase in interactions with humans takes place; we noted increased inactivity and reduced intra-group interaction. This study highlights the connection that LTMs make between human activity and sources of anthropogenic food. Only through understanding LTM interaction can the cause for human-primate conflict be better understood, and thus, more sustainable mitigation strategies can be generated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahbod Entezami
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Daphne Jackson Road, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK; (M.E.); (E.M.); (J.M.P.)
| | - Fiqri Mustaqqim
- School of Postgraduate Studies, Perdana University, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
| | - Elizabeth Morris
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Daphne Jackson Road, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK; (M.E.); (E.M.); (J.M.P.)
| | - Erin Swee Hua Lim
- Abu Dhabi Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi 41012, United Arab Emirates;
- Centre for Research Excellence, Perdana University, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
| | - Joaquín M. Prada
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Daphne Jackson Road, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK; (M.E.); (E.M.); (J.M.P.)
| | - Sharmini Julita Paramasivam
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Daphne Jackson Road, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK; (M.E.); (E.M.); (J.M.P.)
- Animal Neighbours Project, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, Daphne Jackson Road, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK
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5
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Sadoughi B, Mundry R, Schülke O, Ostner J. Social network shrinking is explained by active and passive effects but not increasing selectivity with age in wild macaques. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232736. [PMID: 38471563 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Evidence of social disengagement, network narrowing and social selectivity with advancing age in several non-human animals challenges our understanding of the causes of social ageing. Natural animal populations are needed to test whether social ageing and selectivity occur under natural predation and extrinsic mortality pressures, and longitudinal studies are particularly valuable to disentangle the contribution of within-individual ageing from the demographic processes that shape social ageing at the population level. Data on wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) were collected between 2013 and 2020 at the Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. We investigated the social behaviour of 61 adult females observed for 13 270 h to test several mechanistic hypotheses of social ageing and evaluated the consistency between patterns from mixed-longitudinal and within-individual analyses. With advancing age, females reduced the size of their social network, which could not be explained by an overall increase in the time spent alone, but by an age-related decline in mostly active, but also passive, behaviour, best demonstrated by within-individual analyses. A selective tendency to approach preferred partners was maintained into old age but did not increase. Our results contribute to our understanding of the driver of social ageing in natural animal populations and suggest that social disengagement and selectivity follow independent trajectories during ageing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baptiste Sadoughi
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, Kellnerweg 6, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Research Group Primate Social Evolution, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
| | - Roger Mundry
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Department for Primate Cognition, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Oliver Schülke
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, Kellnerweg 6, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Research Group Primate Social Evolution, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Julia Ostner
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, Kellnerweg 6, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Research Group Primate Social Evolution, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
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Tiritelli R, Flaminio S, Zavatta L, Ranalli R, Giovanetti M, Grasso DA, Leonardi S, Bonforte M, Boni CB, Cargnus E, Catania R, Coppola F, Di Santo M, Pusceddu M, Quaranta M, Bortolotti L, Nanetti A, Cilia G. Ecological and social factors influence interspecific pathogens occurrence among bees. Sci Rep 2024; 14:5136. [PMID: 38429345 PMCID: PMC10907577 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55718-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The interspecific transmission of pathogens can occur frequently in the environment. Among wild bees, the main spillover cases are caused by pathogens associated with Apis mellifera, whose colonies can act as reservoirs. Due to the limited availability of data in Italy, it is challenging to accurately assess the impact and implications of this phenomenon on the wild bee populations. In this study, a total of 3372 bees were sampled from 11 Italian regions within the BeeNet project, evaluating the prevalence and the abundance of the major honey bee pathogens (DWV, BQCV, ABPV, CBPV, KBV, Nosema ceranae, Ascosphaera apis, Crithidia mellificae, Lotmaria passim, Crithidia bombi). The 68.4% of samples were positive for at least one pathogen. DWV, BQCV, N. ceranae and CBPV showed the highest prevalence and abundance values, confirming them as the most prevalent pathogens spread in the environment. For these pathogens, Andrena, Bombus, Eucera and Seladonia showed the highest mean prevalence and abundance values. Generally, time trends showed a prevalence and abundance decrease from April to July. In order to predict the risk of infection among wild bees, statistical models were developed. A low influence of apiary density on pathogen occurrence was observed, while meteorological conditions and agricultural management showed a greater impact on pathogen persistence in the environment. Social and biological traits of wild bees also contributed to defining a higher risk of infection for bivoltine, communal, mining and oligolectic bees. Out of all the samples tested, 40.5% were co-infected with two or more pathogens. In some cases, individuals were simultaneously infected with up to five different pathogens. It is essential to increase knowledge about the transmission of pathogens among wild bees to understand dynamics, impact and effects on pollinator populations. Implementing concrete plans for the conservation of wild bee species is important to ensure the health of wild and human-managed bees within a One-Health perspective.
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Grants
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
- project BeeNet (Italian National Fund under FEASR 2014-2020) Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste
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Affiliation(s)
- Rossella Tiritelli
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, 43124, Parma, Italy
| | - Simone Flaminio
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, Av. Champ de Mars 6, 7000, Mons, Belgium
| | - Laura Zavatta
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy.
- Departement of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Giuseppe Fanin 42, 40127, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Rosa Ranalli
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
- ZooPlantLab, Department of Biotecnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Manuela Giovanetti
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
| | - Donato Antonio Grasso
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, 43124, Parma, Italy
| | - Stefano Leonardi
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, 43124, Parma, Italy
| | - Marta Bonforte
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 100, 95123, Catania, Italy
| | - Chiara Benedetta Boni
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Elena Cargnus
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Delle Scienze 206, 31000, Udine, Italy
| | - Roberto Catania
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 100, 95123, Catania, Italy
| | - Francesca Coppola
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Marco Di Santo
- Maiella National Park, Via Badia 28, 67039, Sulmona, Italy
| | - Michelina Pusceddu
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39A, 07100, Sassari, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), Piazza Marina 61, 90133, Palermo, Italy
| | - Marino Quaranta
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
| | - Laura Bortolotti
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
| | - Antonio Nanetti
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giovanni Cilia
- CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Via di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy
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7
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Romano V, Puga-Gonzalez I, MacIntosh AJJ, Sueur C. The role of social attraction and social avoidance in shaping modular networks. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:231619. [PMID: 38420628 PMCID: PMC10898973 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
How interactions between individuals contribute to the emergence of complex societies is a major question in behavioural ecology. Nonetheless, little remains known about the type of immediate social structure (i.e. social network) that emerges from relationships that maximize beneficial interactions (e.g. social attraction towards informed individuals) and minimize costly relationships (e.g. social avoidance of infected group mates). We developed an agent-based model where individuals vary in the degree to which individuals signal benefits versus costs to others and, on this basis, choose with whom to interact depending on simple rules of social attraction (e.g. access to the highest benefits) and social avoidance (e.g. avoiding the highest costs). Our main findings demonstrate that the accumulation of individual decisions to avoid interactions with highly costly individuals, but that are to some extent homogeneously beneficial, leads to more modular networks. On the contrary, individuals favouring interactions with highly beneficial individuals, but that are to some extent homogeneously costly, lead to less modular networks. Interestingly, statistical models also indicate that when individuals have multiple potentially beneficial partners to interact with, and no interaction cost exists, this also leads to more modular networks. Yet, the degree of modularity is contingent upon the variability in benefit levels held by individuals. We discuss the emergence of modularity in the systems and their consequences for understanding social trade-offs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valéria Romano
- IMBE, Aix Marseille Univ., Avignon Univ., CNRS, IRD, Marseille, France
| | - Ivan Puga-Gonzalez
- Center for Modelling Social Systems (CMSS) at NORCE, Kristiansand, Norway
| | | | - Cédric Sueur
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000 Strasbourg, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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8
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Marina H, Ren K, Hansson I, Fikse F, Nielsen PP, Rönnegård L. New insight into social relationships in dairy cows and how time of birth, parity, and relatedness affect spatial interactions later in life. J Dairy Sci 2024; 107:1110-1123. [PMID: 37709047 DOI: 10.3168/jds.2023-23483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Social interactions between cows play a fundamental role in the daily activities of dairy cattle. Real-time location systems provide on a continuous and automated basis information about the position of individual cows inside barns, offering a valuable opportunity to monitor dyadic social contacts. Understanding dyadic social interactions could be applied to enhance the stability of the social structure promoting animal welfare and to model disease transmission in dairy cattle. This study aimed to identify the effect of different cow characteristics on the likelihood of the formation and persistence of social contacts in dairy cattle. The individual position of the lactating cows was automatically collected once per second for 2 wk, using an ultra-wideband system on a Swedish commercial farm consisting of almost 200 dairy cows inside a freestall barn. Social networks were constructed using the position data of 149 cows with available information on all characteristics during the study period. Social contacts were considered as a binary variable indicating whether a cow pair was within 2.5 m of each other for at least 10 min per day. The role of cow characteristics in social networks was studied by applying separable temporal exponential random graph models. Our results revealed that cows of the same parity interacted more consistently, as well as those born within 7 d of each other or closely related by pedigree. The repeatability of the topological parameters indicated a consistent short-term stability of the individual animal roles within the social network structure. Additional research is required to elucidate the underlying mechanisms governing the long-term evolution of social contacts among dairy cattle and to investigate the relationship between these networks and the transmission of diseases in the dairy cattle population.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Marina
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - K Ren
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - I Hansson
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - F Fikse
- Växa, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Ulls väg 26, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - P P Nielsen
- RISE Research Institute of Sweden, Division of Bioeconomy and Health, Department of Agriculture and Food, RISE Ideon, SE-223 70 Lund, Sweden
| | - L Rönnegård
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; School of Technology and Business Studies, Dalarna University, SE-791 88 Falun, Sweden; The Beijer Laboratory for Animal Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7024, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
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9
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Cantini D, Choleris E, Kavaliers M. Neurobiology of Pathogen Avoidance and Mate Choice: Current and Future Directions. Animals (Basel) 2024; 14:296. [PMID: 38254465 PMCID: PMC10812398 DOI: 10.3390/ani14020296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/13/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Animals are under constant threat of parasitic infection. This has influenced the evolution of social behaviour and has strong implications for sexual selection and mate choice. Animals assess the infection status of conspecifics based on various sensory cues, with odours/chemical signals and the olfactory system playing a particularly important role. The detection of chemical cues and subsequent processing of the infection threat that they pose facilitates the expression of disgust, fear, anxiety, and adaptive avoidance behaviours. In this selective review, drawing primarily from rodent studies, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the detection and assessment of infection status and their relations to mate choice are briefly considered. Firstly, we offer a brief overview of the aspects of mate choice that are relevant to pathogen avoidance. Then, we specifically focus on the olfactory detection of and responses to conspecific cues of parasitic infection, followed by a brief overview of the neurobiological systems underlying the elicitation of disgust and the expression of avoidance of the pathogen threat. Throughout, we focus on current findings and provide suggestions for future directions and research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dante Cantini
- Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
| | - Elena Choleris
- Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
| | - Martin Kavaliers
- Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
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10
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Taylor LN, Dolezal AG. The effect of Israeli acute paralysis virus infection on honey bee brood care behavior. Sci Rep 2024; 14:991. [PMID: 38200122 PMCID: PMC10781695 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50585-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
To protect themselves from communicable diseases, social insects utilize social immunity-behavioral, physiological, and organizational means to combat disease transmission and severity. Within a honey bee colony, larvae are visited thousands of times by nurse bees, representing a prime environment for pathogen transmission. We investigated a potential social immune response to Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) infection in brood care, testing the hypotheses that bees will respond with behaviors that result in reduced brood care, or that infection results in elevated brood care as a virus-driven mechanism to increase transmission. We tested for group-level effects by comparing three different social environments in which 0%, 50%, or 100% of nurse bees were experimentally infected with IAPV. We investigated individual-level effects by comparing exposed bees to unexposed bees within the mixed-exposure treatment group. We found no evidence for a social immune response at the group level; however, individually, exposed bees interacted with the larva more frequently than their unexposed nestmates. While this could increase virus transmission from adults to larvae, it could also represent a hygienic response to increase grooming when an infection is detected. Together, our findings underline the complexity of disease dynamics in complex social animal systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lincoln N Taylor
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
| | - Adam G Dolezal
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
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11
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Usui N. Possible roles of deep cortical neurons and oligodendrocytes in the neural basis of human sociality. Anat Sci Int 2024; 99:34-47. [PMID: 38010534 PMCID: PMC10771383 DOI: 10.1007/s12565-023-00747-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Sociality is an instinctive property of organisms that live in relation to others and is a complex characteristic of higher order brain functions. However, the evolution of the human brain to acquire higher order brain functions, such as sociality, and the neural basis for executing these functions and their control mechanisms are largely unknown. Several studies have attempted to evaluate how human sociality was acquired during the course of evolution and the mechanisms controlling sociality from a neurodevelopment viewpoint. This review discusses these findings in the context of human brain evolution and the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Comparative genomic studies of postmortem primate brains have demonstrated human-specific regulatory mechanisms underlying higher order brain functions, providing evidence for the contribution of oligodendrocytes to human brain function. Functional analyses of the causative genes of ASD in animal models have demonstrated that the neural basis of social behavior is associated with layer 6 (L6) of the neocortex and oligodendrocytes. These findings demonstrate that both neurons and oligodendrocytes contribute to the neural basis and molecular mechanisms underlying human brain evolution and social functioning. This review provides novel insights into sociability and the corresponding neural bases of brain disorders and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noriyoshi Usui
- Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan.
- Omics Center, Center of Medical Innovation and Translational Research, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan.
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan.
- Global Center for Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan.
- Addiction Research Unit, Osaka Psychiatric Research Center, Osaka Psychiatric Medical Center, Osaka, 541-8567, Japan.
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12
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White LM, Gifford SJ, Kaufman G, Gese E, Peyton MA, Parmenter RR, Cain JW. Seroprevalence, Blood Chemistry, and Patterns of Canine Parvovirus, Distemper Virus, Plague, and Tularemia in Free-Ranging Coyotes (Canis latrans) in Northern New Mexico, USA. J Wildl Dis 2024; 60:14-25. [PMID: 37889940 DOI: 10.7589/jwd-d-22-00079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Wildlife diseases have implications for ecology, conservation, human health, and health of domestic animals. They may impact wildlife health and population dynamics. Exposure rates of coyotes (Canis latrans) to pathogens such as Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, may reflect prevalence rates in both rodent prey and human populations. We captured coyotes in north-central New Mexico during 2005-2008 and collected blood samples for serologic surveys. We tested for antibodies against canine distemper virus (CDV, Canine morbillivirus), canine parvovirus (CPV, Carnivore protoparvovirus), plague, tularemia (Francisella tularensis), and for canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) antigen. Serum biochemistry variables that fell outside reference ranges were probably related to capture stress. We detected antibodies to parvovirus in 32/32 samples (100%), and to Y. pestis in 26/31 (84%). More than half 19/32 (59%) had antibodies against CDV, and 5/31 (39%) had antibodies against F. tularensis. We did not detect any heartworm antigens (n = 9). Pathogen prevalence was similar between sexes and among the three coyote packs in the study area. Parvovirus exposure appeared to happen early in life, and prevalence of antibodies against CDV increased with increasing age class. Exposure to Y. pestis and F. tularensis occurred across all age classes. The high coyote seroprevalence rates observed for CPV, Y. pestis, and CDV may indicate high prevalence in sympatric vertebrate populations, with implications for regional wildlife conservation as well as risk to humans via zoonotic transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leah M White
- New Mexico State University, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology, PO Box 30003, MSC 4901, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA
| | - Suzanne J Gifford
- Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA
- US Forest Service, 4389 US-4, Mendon, Vermont 05701, USA
| | - Gail Kaufman
- Consulting DVM, 8631 Groundsel RD NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87120, USA
| | - Eric Gese
- Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA
- US Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Utah Field Station, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 83222, USA
| | - Mark A Peyton
- National Park Service, Valles Caldera National Preserve, PO Box 359, Jemez Springs, New Mexico 87025, USA
| | - Robert R Parmenter
- National Park Service, Valles Caldera National Preserve, PO Box 359, Jemez Springs, New Mexico 87025, USA
| | - James W Cain
- US Geological Survey, New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, New Mexico State University, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology, PO Box 30003, MSC 4901, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA
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13
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Naderi A, Liles K, Burns T, Chavez B, Huynh-Dam KT, Kiaris H. Pair bonding and disruption impact lung transcriptome in monogamous Peromyscus californicus. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:789. [PMID: 38114920 PMCID: PMC10729396 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09873-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Social interactions affect physiological and pathological processes, yet their direct impact in peripheral tissues remains elusive. Recently we showed that disruption of pair bonds in monogamous Peromyscus californicus promotes lung tumorigenesis, pointing to a direct effect of bonding status in the periphery (Naderi et al., 2021). Here we show that lung transcriptomes of tumor-free Peromyscus are altered in a manner that depends on pair bonding and superseding the impact of genetic relevance between siblings. Pathways affected involve response to hypoxia and heart development. These effects are consistent with the profile of the serum proteome of bonded and bond-disrupted Peromyscus and were extended to lung cancer cells cultured in vitro, with sera from animals that differ in bonding experiences. In this setting, the species' origin of serum (deer mouse vs FBS) is the most potent discriminator of RNA expression profiles, followed by bonding status. By analyzing the transcriptomes of lung cancer cells exposed to deer mouse sera, an expression signature was developed that discriminates cells according to the history of social interactions and possesses prognostic significance when applied to primary human lung cancers. The results suggest that present and past social experiences modulate the expression profile of peripheral tissues such as the lungs, in a manner that impacts physiological processes and may affect disease outcomes. Furthermore, they show that besides the direct effects of the hormones that regulate bonding behavior, physiological changes influencing oxygen metabolism may contribute to the adverse effects of bond disruption.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Naderi
- Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - K Liles
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC, USA
| | - T Burns
- Department of Biology, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC, USA
| | - B Chavez
- Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - K-T Huynh-Dam
- Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - H Kiaris
- Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
- Peromyscus Genetic Stock Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
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14
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Radhakrishna S. Primates and pandemics: A biocultural approach to understanding disease transmission in human and nonhuman primates. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2023; 182:595-605. [PMID: 36790634 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Investigations into zoonotic disease outbreaks have been largely epidemiological and microbiological, with the primary focus being one of disease control and management. Increasingly though, the human-animal interface has proven to be an important driver for the acquisition and transmission of pathogens in humans, and this requires syncretic bio-socio-cultural enquiries into the origins of disease emergence, for more efficacious interventions. A biocultural lens is imperative for the examination of primate-related zoonoses, for the human-primate interface is broad and multitudinous, involving both physical and indirect interactions that occur due to shared spaces and ecologies. I use the case example of a viral zoonotic epidemic that is currently endemic to India, the Kysanaur Forest Disease, to show how biocultural anthropology provides a broad and integrative perspective into infectious disease ecology and presents new insights into the determinants of disease outbreaks. Drawing on insights from epidemiology, political ecology, primate behavioral ecology and ethnoprimatology, this paper demonstrates how human-primate interactions and shared ecologies impact infectious disease spread between human and nonhuman primate groups.
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15
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Kim AW, Agarwal SC. From ancient pathogens to modern pandemics: Integrating evolutionary, ecological, and sociopolitical dynamics of infectious disease and pandemics through biological anthropology. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2023; 182:505-512. [PMID: 38006199 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Wooyoung Kim
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
- SAMRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Sabrina C Agarwal
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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16
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Albery GF, Sweeny AR, Webber Q. How behavioural ageing affects infectious disease. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 155:105426. [PMID: 37839673 PMCID: PMC10842249 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Ageing is associated with profound changes in behaviour that could influence exposure and susceptibility to infectious disease. As well as determining emergent patterns of infection across individuals of different ages, behavioural ageing could interact with, confound, or counteract age-related changes in other traits. Here, we examine how behavioural ageing can manifest and influence patterns of infection in wild animals. We discuss a range of age-related changes that involve interactions between behaviour and components of exposure and susceptibility to infection, including social ageing and immunosenescence, acquisition of novel parasites and pathogens with age, changes in spatial behaviours, and age-related hygiene and sickness behaviours. Overall, most behavioural changes are expected to result in a reduced exposure rate, but there is relatively little evidence for this phenomenon, emerging largely from a rarity of explicit tests of exposure changes over the lifespan. This review offers a framework for understanding how ageing, behaviour, immunity, and infection interact, providing a series of hypotheses and testable predictions to improve our understanding of health in ageing societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory F Albery
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA; Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Amy R Sweeny
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, UK
| | - Quinn Webber
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
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17
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Zhang Y, Zhang P, Wang F, Xing F. Influencing factors of sarcopenia in older adults based on the Newman system model: a case-control study. Eur Geriatr Med 2023; 14:1049-1057. [PMID: 37378858 DOI: 10.1007/s41999-023-00822-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Research on sarcopenia has primarily focused on single fields such as physiology or psychology. However, there is a lack of clear evidence to determine the influence of social factors on sarcopenia. Therefore, our aim was to explore the multidimensional factors that contribute to sarcopenia in older adults within the community. METHODS In this retrospective case-control study, we applied the diagnostic criteria from The Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 to categorize study subjects into control and case groups. Our aim was to examine the impact of physical, psychological, and social factors on community-dwelling older adults with sarcopenia across multiple dimensions. We utilized descriptive statistics, as well as simple and multivariate logistic regression analyses, to analyze the data. We compared the odds ratios (OR) of the factors between the two groups and ranked the importance of the influencing factors using the XGBoost algorithm in Python software. RESULTS Combined with multivariate analysis and XGBoost algorithm results, it can be seen that physical activity is the strongest predictor of sarcopenia [OR] = 0.922(95% CI 0.906-0.948), followed diabetes mellitus [OR] = 3.454(95% CI 1.007-11.854), older age [OR] = 1.112(95% CI 1.023-1.210), divorced or widowed [OR] = 19.148 (95% CI 4.233-86.607), malnutrition [OR] = 18.332(95% CI 5.500-61.099), and depressed [OR] = 7.037(95% CI 2.391-20.710). CONCLUSIONS Factors associated with the development of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults cover a multiplicity of physical, psychological, and social factors, physical activity, diabetes mellitus, age, marital status, nutrition, and depression were important factors that have an impact on sarcopenia. REGISTRATION NUMBER ChiCTR2200056297.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Zhang
- School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, North China University of Science and Technology, No.21 Bohai Avenue, New Town, Caofeidian District, Tangshan City, 063210, Hebei Province, China
| | - Pan Zhang
- School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, North China University of Science and Technology, No.21 Bohai Avenue, New Town, Caofeidian District, Tangshan City, 063210, Hebei Province, China
| | - Fenglan Wang
- School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, North China University of Science and Technology, No.21 Bohai Avenue, New Town, Caofeidian District, Tangshan City, 063210, Hebei Province, China
| | - Fengmei Xing
- Department of Clinical Medicine, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, 063210, China.
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18
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Nguyen TTH, Asano T, Cronin AL. Group size rather than social status influences personal immune efficacy in a socially polymorphic bee. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230149. [PMID: 37311547 PMCID: PMC10264099 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The evolution of group living is associated with increased pressure from parasites and pathogens. This can be offset by greater investment in personal immune defences and/or the development of cooperative immune defences (social immunity). An enduring question in evolutionary biology is whether social-immune benefits arose in response to an increased need in more complex societies, or arose early in group living and helped facilitate the evolution of more complex societies. In this study, we shed light on this question through investigating how immunity varies intraspecifically in a socially polymorphic bee. Using a novel immune assay, we show that personal antibacterial efficacy in individuals from social nests is higher than that of solitary individuals, but that this can be explained by higher densities in social nests. We conclude that personal immune effects are likely to play a role in the social/solitary transition in this species. These patterns are consistent with the idea that social immunity evolved secondarily, following the evolution of group living. The flexibility of the individual immune system may have favoured a reliance on its use during the facultative phase early in social evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thi Thu Ha Nguyen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
- Center for Bee Research and Animal Technology Transfer, National Institute of Animal Science, Hanoi, 12112, Vietnam
| | - Tsukani Asano
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
| | - Adam L. Cronin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
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19
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Cho H, Rohlfs M. Transmission of beneficial yeasts accompanies offspring production in Drosophila-An initial evolutionary stage of insect maternal care through manipulation of microbial load? Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10184. [PMID: 37332518 PMCID: PMC10276349 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Parent-to-offspring transmission of beneficial microorganisms is intimately interwoven with the evolution of social behaviors. Ancestral stages of complex sociality-microbe vectoring interrelationships may be characterized by high costs of intensive parental care and hence only a weak link between the transmission of microbial symbionts and offspring production. We investigate the relationship between yeast symbiont transmission and egg-laying, as well as some general factors thought to drive the "farming" of microscopic fungi by the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, an insect with no obvious parental care but which is highly dependent on dietary microbes during offspring development. The process of transmitting microbes involves flies ingesting microbes from their previous environment, storing and vectoring them, and finally depositing them to a new environment. This study revealed that fecal materials of adult flies play a significant role in this process, as they contain viable yeast cells that support larval development. During single patch visits, egg-laying female flies transmitted more yeast cells than non-egg-laying females, suggesting that dietary symbiont transmission is not random, but linked to offspring production. The crop, an extension of the foregut, was identified as an organ capable of storing viable yeast cells during travel between egg-laying sites. However, the amount of yeast in the crop reduced rapidly during periods of starvation. Although females starved for 24 h deposited a smaller amount of yeast than those starved for 6 h, the yeast inoculum produced still promoted the development of larval offspring. The results of these experiments suggest that female Drosophila fruit flies have the ability to store and regulate the transfer of microorganisms beneficial to their offspring via the shedding of fecal material. We argue that our observation may represent an initial evolutionary stage of maternal care through the manipulation of microbial load, from which more specialized feedbacks of sociality and microbe management may evolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Cho
- Institute of Ecology, Insect and Chemical Ecology GroupUniversity of BremenBremenGermany
| | - Marko Rohlfs
- Institute of Ecology, Insect and Chemical Ecology GroupUniversity of BremenBremenGermany
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20
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Lange EC, Zeng S, Campos FA, Li F, Tung J, Archie EA, Alberts SC. Early life adversity and adult social relationships have independent effects on survival in a wild primate. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade7172. [PMID: 37196090 PMCID: PMC10191438 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade7172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Adverse conditions in early life can have negative consequences for adult health and survival in humans and other animals. What variables mediate the relationship between early adversity and adult survival? Adult social environments represent one candidate: Early life adversity is linked to social adversity in adulthood, and social adversity in adulthood predicts survival outcomes. However, no study has prospectively linked early life adversity, adult social behavior, and adult survival to measure the extent to which adult social behavior mediates this relationship. We do so in a wild baboon population in Amboseli, Kenya. We find weak mediation and largely independent effects of early adversity and adult sociality on survival. Furthermore, strong social bonds and high social status in adulthood can buffer some negative effects of early adversity. These results support the idea that affiliative social behavior is subject to natural selection through its positive relationship with survival, and they highlight possible targets for intervention to improve human health and well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth C. Lange
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego NY, USA
| | - Shuxi Zeng
- Department of Statistical Science, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
| | - Fernando A. Campos
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio TX, USA
| | - Fan Li
- Department of Statistical Science, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
| | - Jenny Tung
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
- Duke Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- University of Leipzig, Faculty of Life Science, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elizabeth A. Archie
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN, USA
| | - Susan C. Alberts
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
- Duke Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham NC, USA
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21
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Sarabian C, Wilkinson A, Sigaud M, Kano F, Tobajas J, Darmaillacq AS, Kalema-Zikusoka G, Plotnik JM, MacIntosh AJJ. Disgust in animals and the application of disease avoidance to wildlife management and conservation. J Anim Ecol 2023. [PMID: 36914973 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Disgust is an adaptive system hypothesized to have evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. It is associated with behavioural, cognitive and physiological responses tuned to allow animals to avoid and/or get rid of parasites, pathogens and toxins. Little is known about the mechanisms and outcomes of disease avoidance in wild animals. Furthermore, given the escalation of negative human-wildlife interactions, the translation of such knowledge into the design of evolutionarily relevant conservation and wildlife management strategies is becoming urgent. Contemporary methods in animal ecology and related fields, using direct (sensory cues) or indirect (remote sensing technologies and machine learning) means, provide a flexible toolbox for testing and applying disgust at individual and collective levels. In this review/perspective paper, we provide an empirical framework for testing the adaptive function of disgust and its associated disease avoidance behaviours across species, from the least to the most social, in different habitats. We predict various trade-offs to be at play depending on the social system and ecology of the species. We propose five contexts in which disgust-related avoidance behaviours could be applied, including endangered species rehabilitation, invasive species, crop-raiding, urban pests and animal tourism. We highlight some of the perspectives and current challenges of testing disgust in the wild. In particular, we recommend future studies to consider together disease, predation and competition risks. We discuss the ethics associated with disgust experiments in the above contexts. Finally, we promote the creation of a database gathering disease avoidance evidence in animals and its applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cécile Sarabian
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Anna Wilkinson
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK
| | - Marie Sigaud
- Centre d'Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Fumihiro Kano
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Jorge Tobajas
- Departamento de Botánica, Ecología y Fisiología Vegetal, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain
| | | | | | - Joshua M Plotnik
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, USA
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22
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Payne N, Combrink L, Kraberger S, Fontenele RS, Schmidlin K, Cassaigne I, Culver M, Varsani A, Van Doorslaer K. DNA virome composition of two sympatric wild felids, bobcat (Lynx rufus) and puma (Puma concolor) in Sonora, Mexico. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1126149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
Abstract
With viruses often having devastating effects on wildlife population fitness and wild mammals serving as pathogen reservoirs for potentially zoonotic diseases, determining the viral diversity present in wild mammals is both a conservation and One Health priority. Additionally, transmission from more abundant hosts could increase the extinction risk of threatened sympatric species. We leveraged an existing circular DNA enriched metagenomic dataset generated from bobcat (Lynx rufus, n = 9) and puma (Puma concolor, n = 13) scat samples non-invasively collected from Sonora, Mexico, to characterize fecal DNA viromes of each species and determine the extent that viruses are shared between them. Using the metaWRAP pipeline to co-assemble viral genomes for comparative metagenomic analysis, we observed diverse circular DNA viruses in both species, including circoviruses, genomoviruses, and anelloviruses. We found that differences in DNA virome composition were partly attributed to host species, although there was overlap between viruses in bobcats and pumas. Pumas exhibited greater levels of alpha diversity, possibly due to bioaccumulation of pathogens in apex predators. Shared viral taxa may reflect dietary overlap, shared environmental resources, or transmission through host interactions, although we cannot rule out species-specific host-virus coevolution for the taxa detected through co-assembly. However, our detection of integrated feline foamy virus (FFV) suggests Sonoran pumas may interact with domestic cats. Our results contribute to the growing baseline knowledge of wild felid viral diversity. Future research including samples from additional sources (e.g., prey items, tissues) may help to clarify host associations and determine the pathogenicity of detected viruses.
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23
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Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2275. [PMID: 36754990 PMCID: PMC9908884 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29309-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Social network analysis in dairy calves has not been widely studied, with previous studies limited by the short study duration, and low number of animals and replicates. In this study, we investigated social proximity interactions of 79 Holstein-Friesian calves from 5 cohorts for up to 76 days. Networks were computed using 4-day aggregated associations obtained from ultrawideband location sensor technology, at 1 Hz sampling rate. The effect of age, familiarity, health, and weaning status on the social proximity networks of dairy calves was assessed. Networks were poorly correlated (non-stable) between the different 4-day periods, in the majority of them calves associated heterogeneously, and individuals assorted based on previous familiarity for the whole duration of the study. Age significantly increased association strength, social time and eigenvector centrality and significantly decreased closeness and coefficient of variation in association (CV). Sick calves had a significantly lower strength, social time, centrality and CV, and significantly higher closeness compared to the healthy calves. During and after weaning, calves had significantly lower closeness and CV, and significantly higher association strength, social time, and eigenvector centrality. These results indicate that age, familiarity, weaning, and sickness have a significant impact on the variation of social proximity interaction of calves.
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Pritchard AJ, Fefferman NH. Trade-offs in resource access and health by avoidance of self-fouling, motivated via disgust. Ecol Modell 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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25
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Lo LK, R R, Tewes LJ, Milutinović B, Müller C, Kurtz J. Immune Stimulation via Wounding Alters Chemical Profiles of Adult Tribolium castaneum. J Chem Ecol 2023; 49:46-58. [PMID: 36539674 PMCID: PMC9941273 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-022-01395-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Revised: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Group-living individuals experience immense risk of disease transmission and parasite infection. In social and in some non-social insects, disease control with immunomodulation arises not only via individual immune defenses, but also via infochemicals such as contact cues and (defensive) volatiles to mount a group-level immunity. However, little is known about whether activation of the immune system elicits changes in chemical phenotypes, which may mediate these responses. We here asked whether individual immune experience resulting from wounding or injection of heat-killed Bacillus thuringiensis (priming) leads to changes in the chemical profiles of female and male adult red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum, which are non-social but gregarious. We analyzed insect extracts using GC-FID to study the chemical composition of (1) cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) as candidates for the transfer of immunity-related information between individuals via contact, and (2) stink gland secretions, with analysis of benzoquinones as main active compounds regulating 'external immunity'. Despite a pronounced sexual dimorphism in CHC profiles, wounding stimulation led to similar profile changes in males and females with increases in the proportion of methyl-branched alkanes compared to naïve beetles. While changes in the overall secretion profiles were less pronounced, absolute amounts of benzoquinones were transiently elevated in wounded compared to naïve females. Responses to priming were insignificant in CHCs and secretions. We suggest that changes in different infochemicals after wounding may mediate immune status signaling in the context of both internal and external immune responses in groups of this non-social insect, thus showing parallels to social immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lai Ka Lo
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Hüfferstr. 1, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Reshma R
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Hüfferstr. 1, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Lisa Johanna Tewes
- grid.7491.b0000 0001 0944 9128Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Barbara Milutinović
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Hüfferstr. 1, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Caroline Müller
- grid.7491.b0000 0001 0944 9128Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Joachim Kurtz
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Hüfferstr. 1, 48149, Münster, Germany.
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Lemonnier C, Bize P, Boonstra R, Dobson FS, Criscuolo F, Viblanc VA. Effects of the social environment on vertebrate fitness and health in nature: Moving beyond the stress axis. Horm Behav 2022; 145:105232. [PMID: 35853411 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 06/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Social interactions are a ubiquitous feature of the lives of vertebrate species. These may be cooperative or competitive, and shape the dynamics of social systems, with profound effects on individual behavior, physiology, fitness, and health. On one hand, a wealth of studies on humans, laboratory animal models, and captive species have focused on understanding the relationships between social interactions and individual health within the context of disease and pathology. On the other, ecological studies are attempting an understanding of how social interactions shape individual phenotypes in the wild, and the consequences this entails in terms of adaptation. Whereas numerous studies in wild vertebrates have focused on the relationships between social environments and the stress axis, much remains to be done in understanding how socially-related activation of the stress axis coordinates other key physiological functions related to health. Here, we review the state of our current knowledge on the effects that social interactions may have on other markers of vertebrate fitness and health. Building upon complementary findings from the biomedical and ecological fields, we identify 6 key physiological functions (cellular metabolism, oxidative stress, cellular senescence, immunity, brain function, and the regulation of biological rhythms) which are intimately related to the stress axis, and likely directly affected by social interactions. Our goal is a holistic understanding of how social environments affect vertebrate fitness and health in the wild. Whereas both social interactions and social environments are recognized as important sources of phenotypic variation, their consequences on vertebrate fitness, and the adaptive nature of social-stress-induced phenotypes, remain unclear. Social flexibility, or the ability of an animal to change its social behavior with resulting changes in social systems in response to fluctuating environments, has emerged as a critical underlying factor that may buffer the beneficial and detrimental effects of social environments on vertebrate fitness and health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Lemonnier
- Ecole Normale Supérieur de Lyon, 69342 Lyon, France; Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000 Strasbourg, France.
| | - Pierre Bize
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK; Swiss Institute of Ornithology, Sempach, Switzerland
| | - Rudy Boonstra
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
| | - F Stephen Dobson
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000 Strasbourg, France; Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
| | | | - Vincent A Viblanc
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000 Strasbourg, France
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Pinacho-Guendulain B, Montiel-Castro AJ, Ramos-Fernández G, Pacheco-López G. Social complexity as a driving force of gut microbiota exchange among conspecific hosts in non-human primates. Front Integr Neurosci 2022; 16:876849. [PMID: 36110388 PMCID: PMC9468716 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2022.876849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergent concept of the social microbiome implies a view of a highly connected biological world, in which microbial interchange across organisms may be influenced by social and ecological connections occurring at different levels of biological organization. We explore this idea reviewing evidence of whether increasing social complexity in primate societies is associated with both higher diversity and greater similarity in the composition of the gut microbiota. By proposing a series of predictions regarding such relationship, we evaluate the existence of a link between gut microbiota and primate social behavior. Overall, we find that enough empirical evidence already supports these predictions. Nonetheless, we conclude that studies with the necessary, sufficient, explicit, and available evidence are still scarce. Therefore, we reflect on the benefit of founding future analyses on the utility of social complexity as a theoretical framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Braulio Pinacho-Guendulain
- Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Augusto Jacobo Montiel-Castro
- Department of Health Sciences, Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Lerma, Mexico
- *Correspondence: Augusto Jacobo Montiel-Castro,
| | - Gabriel Ramos-Fernández
- Institute for Research on Applied Mathematics and Systems (IIMAS), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
- Center for Complexity Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Gustavo Pacheco-López
- Department of Health Sciences, Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Lerma, Mexico
- Gustavo Pacheco-López,
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28
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Cooper EB, Brent LJN, Snyder-Mackler N, Singh M, Sengupta A, Khatiwada S, Malaivijitnond S, Qi Hai Z, Higham JP. The natural history of model organisms: the rhesus macaque as a success story of the Anthropocene. eLife 2022; 11:78169. [PMID: 35801697 PMCID: PMC9345599 DOI: 10.7554/elife.78169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Of all the non-human primate species studied by researchers, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is likely the most widely used across biological disciplines. Rhesus macaques have thrived during the Anthropocene and now have the largest natural range of any non-human primate. They are highly social, exhibit marked genetic diversity, and display remarkable niche flexibility (which allows them to live in a range of habitats and survive on a variety of diets). These characteristics mean that rhesus macaques are well-suited for understanding the links between sociality, health and fitness, and also for investigating intra-specific variation, adaptation and other topics in evolutionary ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eve B Cooper
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States
| | | | | | - Mewa Singh
- Biopsychology Laboratory, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India
| | | | - Sunil Khatiwada
- Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Garbatka, Poland
| | | | - Zhou Qi Hai
- Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
| | - James P Higham
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States
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29
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Odewahn R, Wright BR, Czirják GÁ, Higgins DP. Differences in constitutive innate immunity between divergent Australian marsupials. DEVELOPMENTAL AND COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY 2022; 132:104399. [PMID: 35307478 DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2022.104399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Understanding immunity in wildlife populations is important from both One Health and conservation perspectives. The constitutive innate immune system is the first line of defence against pathogens, and comparisons among taxa can test the impact of evolution and life history on immune function. We investigated serum bacterial killing ability (BKA) of five marsupial species that employ varying life history strategies, demonstrated to influence immunity in other vertebrates. The brushtail possum and eastern grey kangaroo had the greatest BKA, while ringtail possums and koalas had the least. These differences were independent of social structure, captivity status and phylogeny, but were associated with diet and body size. Sex and disease status had no effect on BKA in koalas, however potential for differences between wild and captive koalas warrants further investigation. The current study has provided a foundation for future investigations into how adaptive and innate immunity interact in marsupials from an eco-evolutionary perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Odewahn
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Belinda R Wright
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Gábor Á Czirják
- Department of Wildlife Diseases, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315, Berlin, Germany
| | - Damien P Higgins
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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30
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Lynsdale CL, Seltmann MW, Mon NO, Aung HH, Nyein UK, Htut W, Lahdenperä M, Lummaa V. Investigating associations between nematode infection and three measures of sociality in Asian elephants. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022; 76:87. [PMID: 35765658 PMCID: PMC9232411 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03192-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 06/05/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Frequent social interactions, proximity to conspecifics, and group density are main drivers of infections and parasite transmissions. However, recent theoretical and empirical studies suggest that the health benefits of sociality and group living can outweigh the costs of infection and help social individuals fight infections or increase their infection-related tolerance level. Here, we combine the advantage of studying artificially created social work groups with different demographic compositions with free-range feeding and social behaviours in semi-captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), employed in timber logging in Myanmar. We examine the link between gastro-intestinal nematode load (strongyles and Strongyloides spp.), estimated by faecal egg counts, and three different aspects of an elephant’s social world: individual solitary behaviour, work group size, and work group sex ratio. Controlling for sex, age, origin, time since last deworming treatment, year, human sampler bias, and individual identity, we found that infection by nematodes ranged from 0 to 2720 eggs/g between and within 26 male and 45 female elephants over the 4-year study period. However, such variation was not linked to any investigated measures of sociality in either males or females. Our findings highlight the need for finer-scale studies, establishing how sociality is limited by, mitigates, or protects against infection in different ecological contexts, to fully understand the mechanisms underlying these pathways. Significance statement Being social involves not only benefits, such as improved health, but also costs, including increased risk of parasitism and infectious disease. We studied the relationship between and three different sociality measures—solitary behaviour, group size, and the proportion of females to males within a group—and infection by gut nematodes (roundworms), using a unique study system of semi-captive working Asian elephants. Our system allows for observing how infection is linked to sociality measures across different social frameworks. We found that none of our social measures was associated with nematode infection in the studied elephants. Our results therefore suggest that here infection is not a large cost to group living, that it can be alleviated by the benefits of increased sociality, or that there are weak infection–sociality associations present which could not be captured and thus require finer-scale measures than those studied here. Overall, more studies are needed from a diverse range of systems that investigate specific aspects of social infection dynamics.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-022-03192-8.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly L. Lynsdale
- Natural Resources Institute, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Nay Oo Mon
- Department of Animal Science, University of Veterinary Science, Yezin, Myanmar
| | - Htoo Htoo Aung
- Myanma Timber Enterprise, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - UKyaw Nyein
- Myanma Timber Enterprise, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Win Htut
- Myanma Timber Enterprise, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Mirkka Lahdenperä
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, 20014 Turku, Finland
- Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Virpi Lummaa
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
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31
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Hase K. Microflora Influence: The Aquatic Environment Changes Grouping Risk and Development Speed of Toad Tadpoles. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.917067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In addition to habitat loss and fragmentation, behavioral traits and the deterioration of water environments also contribute to the local extinction of amphibians. Abundant microflora in urban ponds may cause fatal diseases, whereas symbiotic bacteria may protect the host from pathogens; these effects may vary with group size. In this study, I monitored the growth of Japanese common toad (Bufo japonicus) larvae in Tokyo using three different group sizes: 1 (solitary), 2 (pair), and 15. Although there was no genetic bias in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II genes or microsatellite loci to the survival of the larvae, the mortality risk of the larvae reared in pond water was higher than that of those reared in tap water. According to the survival analysis, the risk was more significant when the group size was 15. This result would be unwelcomed for the B. japonicus tadpoles, which have habits of social aggregation. Furthermore, larval metamorphosis took longer to complete in pond than tap water without any difference in body length or mass. These findings provide fundamental insight into the impact of the aquatic environment and the effect of the group size on animal health and conservation.
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32
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De Dreu CKW, Triki Z. Intergroup conflict: origins, dynamics and consequences across taxa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210134. [PMID: 35369751 PMCID: PMC8977662 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Although uniquely destructive and wasteful, intergroup conflict and warfare are not confined to humans. They are seen across a range of group-living species, from social insects, fishes and birds to mammals, including nonhuman primates. With its unique collection of theory, research and review contributions from biology, anthropology and economics, this theme issue provides novel insights into intergroup conflict across taxa. Here, we introduce and organize this theme issue on the origins and consequences of intergroup conflict. We provide a coherent framework by modelling intergroup conflicts as multi-level games of strategy in which individuals within groups cooperate to compete with (individuals in) other groups for scarce resources, such as territory, food, mating opportunities, power and influence. Within this framework, we identify cross-species mechanisms and consequences of (participating in) intergroup conflict. We conclude by highlighting crosscutting innovations in the study of intergroup conflict set forth by individual contributions. These include, among others, insights on how within-group heterogeneities and leadership relate to group conflict, how intergroup conflict shapes social organization and how climate change and environmental degradation transition intergroup relations from peaceful coexistence to violent conflict. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Intergroup conflict across taxa’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsten K W De Dreu
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Zegni Triki
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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33
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Virome of Three Termite Species from Southern Vietnam. Viruses 2022; 14:v14050860. [PMID: 35632601 PMCID: PMC9143207 DOI: 10.3390/v14050860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Modern metagenomic approaches enable the effective discovery of novel viruses in previously unexplored organisms. Termites are significant ecosystem converters and influencers. As with the majority of tropical forest insects, termites are studied insufficiently, and termite virome remains especially understudied. Here, we studied the virome of lichenophagous and mycophagous termites (Hospitalitermes bicolor, Macrotermes carbonarius and Odontotermes wallonensis) collected in the Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam). We assembled four full genomes of novel viruses related to Solemoviridae, Lispiviridae, Polycipiviridae and Kolmioviridae. We also found several contigs with relation to Chuviridae and Deltaflexiviridae that did not correspond to complete virus genomes. All the novel viruses clustered phylogenetically with previously identified viruses of the termites. Deltaflexi-like contigs were identified in the fungi-cultivating M. carbonarius and showed homology with viruses recently discovered in the edible basidiomycete mushrooms.
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34
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Siracusa ER, Higham JP, Snyder-Mackler N, Brent LJN. Social ageing: exploring the drivers of late-life changes in social behaviour in mammals. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20210643. [PMID: 35232274 PMCID: PMC8889194 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactions help group-living organisms cope with socio-environmental challenges and are central to survival and reproductive success. Recent research has shown that social behaviour and relationships can change across the lifespan, a phenomenon referred to as 'social ageing'. Given the importance of social integration for health and well-being, age-dependent changes in social behaviour can modulate how fitness changes with age and may be an important source of unexplained variation in individual patterns of senescence. However, integrating social behaviour into ageing research requires a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of age-based changes in social behaviour. Here, we provide an overview of the drivers of late-life changes in sociality. We suggest that explanations for social ageing can be categorized into three groups: changes in sociality that (a) occur as a result of senescence; (b) result from adaptations to ameliorate the negative effects of senescence; and/or (c) result from positive effects of age and demographic changes. Quantifying the relative contribution of these processes to late-life changes in sociality will allow us to move towards a more holistic understanding of how and why these patterns emerge and will provide important insights into the potential for social ageing to delay or accelerate other patterns of senescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin R Siracusa
- School of Psychology, Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - James P Higham
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Noah Snyder-Mackler
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.,School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.,School for Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Lauren J N Brent
- School of Psychology, Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
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35
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Escalante I, Domínguez M, Gómez-Ruiz DA, Machado G. Benefits and Costs of Mixed-Species Aggregations in Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.766323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many animals form aggregations with individuals of the same species (single-species aggregations, SSA). Less frequently, individuals may also aggregate with individuals of other species (mixed-species aggregations, MSA). Although the benefits and costs of SSA have been intensively studied, the same is not true for MSA. Here, we first review the cases of MSA in harvestmen, an arachnid order in which the records of MSA are more frequent than other arthropod orders. We then propose several benefits and costs of MSA in harvestmen, and contrast them with those of SSA. Second, using field-gathered data we describe gregariousness in seven species of Prionostemma harvestmen from Costa Rica. These species form MSA, but individuals are also found solitarily or in SSA. We tested one possible benefit and one possible cost of gregariousness in Prionostemma harvestmen. Regarding the benefit, we hypothesized that individuals missing legs would be more exposed to predation than eight-legged individuals and thus they should be found preferentially in aggregations, where they would be more protected from predators. Our data, however, do not support this hypothesis. Regarding the cost, we hypothesized that gregariousness increases the chances of parasitism. We found no support for this hypothesis either because both mite prevalence and infestation intensity did not differ between solitary or aggregated individuals. Additionally, the type of aggregation (SSA or MSA) was not associated with the benefit or the cost we explored. This lack of effect may be explained by the fluid membership of the aggregations, as we found high turnover over time in the number of individuals and species composition of the aggregations. In conclusion, we hope our review and empirical data stimulate further studies on MSA, which remains one of the most elusive forms of group living in animals.
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36
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Riley JL, Baxter‐Gilbert J, Whiting MJ, Cherry M. Partitioned parturition: Birthing asynchrony in cordylid lizards. J Zool (1987) 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J. L. Riley
- Department of Botany and Zoology Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa
- Department of Biology Dalhousie University Halifax NS Canada
- Department of Biology Mount Allison University Sackville NB Canada
| | - J. Baxter‐Gilbert
- Centre for Invasion Biology Department of Botany and Zoology Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa
| | - M. J. Whiting
- Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University Sydney NSW Australia
| | - M. Cherry
- Department of Botany and Zoology Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa
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37
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Torfs JRR, Eens M, Laméris DW, Staes N. Respiratory Disease Risk of Zoo-Housed Bonobos Is Associated with Sex and Betweenness Centrality in the Proximity Network. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:3597. [PMID: 34944372 PMCID: PMC8698162 DOI: 10.3390/ani11123597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Infectious diseases can be considered a threat to animal welfare and are commonly spread through both direct and indirect social interactions with conspecifics. This is especially true for species with complex social lives, like primates. While several studies have investigated the impact of sociality on disease risk in primates, only a handful have focused on respiratory disease, despite it being a major cause of morbidity and mortality in both wild and captive populations and thus an important threat to primate welfare. Therefore, we examined the role of social-network position on the occurrence of respiratory disease symptoms during one winter season in a relatively large group of 20 zoo-housed bonobos with managed fission-fusion dynamics. We found that within the proximity network, symptoms were more likely to occur in individuals with higher betweenness centrality, which are individuals that form bridges between different parts of the network. Symptoms were also more likely to occur in males than in females, independent of their social-network position. Taken together, these results highlight a combined role of close proximity and sex in increased risk of attracting respiratory disease, two factors that can be taken into account for further welfare management of the species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas R. R. Torfs
- Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; (M.E.); (D.W.L.); (N.S.)
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 26, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Marcel Eens
- Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; (M.E.); (D.W.L.); (N.S.)
| | - Daan W. Laméris
- Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; (M.E.); (D.W.L.); (N.S.)
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 26, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Nicky Staes
- Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; (M.E.); (D.W.L.); (N.S.)
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 26, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
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Gartland LA, Firth JA, Laskowski KL, Jeanson R, Ioannou CC. Sociability as a personality trait in animals: methods, causes and consequences. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 97:802-816. [PMID: 34894041 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Within animal populations there is variation among individuals in their tendency to be social, where more sociable individuals associate more with other individuals. Consistent inter-individual variation in 'sociability' is considered one of the major axes of personality variation in animals along with aggressiveness, activity, exploration and boldness. Not only is variation in sociability important in terms of animal personalities, but it holds particular significance for, and can be informed by, two other topics of major interest: social networks and collective behaviour. Further, knowledge of what generates inter-individual variation in social behaviour also holds applied implications, such as understanding disorders of social behaviour in humans. In turn, research using non-human animals in the genetics, neuroscience and physiology of these disorders can inform our understanding of sociability. For the first time, this review brings together insights across these areas of research, across animal taxa from primates to invertebrates, and across studies from both the laboratory and field. We show there are mixed results in whether and how sociability correlates with other major behavioural traits. Whether and in what direction these correlations are observed may differ with individual traits such as sex and body condition, as well as ecological conditions. A large body of evidence provides the proximate mechanisms for why individuals vary in their social tendency. Evidence exists for the importance of genes and their expression, chemical messengers, social interactions and the environment in determining an individual's social tendency, although the specifics vary with species and other variables such as age, and interactions amongst these proximate factors. Less well understood is how evolution can maintain consistent variation in social tendencies within populations. Shifts in the benefits and costs of social tendencies over time, as well as the social niche hypothesis, are currently the best supported theories for how variation in sociability can evolve and be maintained in populations. Increased exposure to infectious diseases is the best documented cost of a greater social tendency, and benefits include greater access to socially transmitted information. We also highlight that direct evidence for more sociable individuals being safer from predators is lacking. Variation in sociability is likely to have broad ecological consequences, but beyond its importance in the spread of infectious diseases, direct evidence is limited to a few examples related to dispersal and invasive species biology. Overall, our knowledge of inter-individual variation in sociability is highly skewed towards the proximate mechanisms. Our review also demonstrates, however, that considering research from social networks and collective behaviour greatly enriches our understanding of sociability, highlighting the need for greater integration of these approaches into future animal personality research to address the imbalance in our understanding of sociability as a personality trait.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lizzy A Gartland
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, U.K
| | - Josh A Firth
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, U.K
| | - Kate L Laskowski
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, U.S.A
| | - Raphael Jeanson
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (UMR5169), Centre de Biologie Intégrative, CNRS, UPS, Université de Toulouse, 31062, Toulouse, France
| | - Christos C Ioannou
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, U.K
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Schmid-Hempel P. Sociality and parasite transmission. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021; 75:156. [PMID: 34720348 PMCID: PMC8540878 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03092-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Parasites and their social hosts form many different relationships. But what kind of selection regimes are important? A look at the parameters that determine fitness of the two parties suggests that social hosts differ from solitary ones primarily in the structure of transmission pathways. Because transmission is, both, the physical encounter of a new host and infecting it, several different elements determine parasite transmission success. These include spatial distance, genetic distance, or the temporal and ecological niche overlaps. Combing these elements into a ‘generalized transmission distance’ that determines parasite fitness aids in the identification of the critical steps. For example, short-distance transmission to genetically similar hosts within the social group is the most frequent process under sociality. Therefore, spatio-genetical distances are the main driver of parasite fitness. Vice versa, the generalized distance identifies the critical host defences. In this case, host defences should be primarily selected to defend against the within-group spread of an infection, especially among closely related group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Schmid-Hempel
- Institute of Integrative Biology (IBZ), ETH Zürich, ETH-Zentrum CHN, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
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40
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Romano V, Sueur C, MacIntosh AJJ. The tradeoff between information and pathogen transmission in animal societies. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Valéria Romano
- Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178 Strasbourg France
- Primate Research Inst., Kyoto Univ. Inuyama Japan
| | - Cédric Sueur
- Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178 Strasbourg France
- Inst. Univ. de France Paris France
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41
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Fellin E, Schulte-Hostedde A. Effects of ticks on community assemblages of ectoparasites in deer mice. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2021; 13:101846. [PMID: 34666287 DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Ectoparasites are fundamental to ecosystems, playing a key role in trophic regulation. Fleas, mites, and ticks are common hematophagous ectoparasites that infest shared mammalian hosts. One common host in Ontario, Canada, is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). As the climate warms and the geographic ranges of blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) and American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis) expand, their introduction to new ecosystems may alter current ectoparasite communities. At three different sites where exposure to ticks varied (both in terms of tick diversity and abundance), ectoparasite community structures found on deer mouse hosts were examined, focusing on species co-occurrences and habitat partitioning on the host. We predicted that when tick species were prevalent, ticks would dominate the micro-habitat attachment sites often inhabited by other parasites, thereby significantly altering parasite community structure. Our results suggest that blacklegged ticks and American dog ticks could have a positive association with each other, but a negative or random association with other ectoparasite species, even when they do not occupy the same attachment site. Sampling site played a significant role in community assemblages as well, possibly due to the differences in tick exposure. As the ticks' ranges expand and they become more abundant, it is important to understand how their prevalence can potentially alter the dynamics in an ectoparasite community, affecting the transmission of pathogens that may spread within an ecosystem, from one host to another.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica Fellin
- Department of Biology, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada.
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42
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Pfoh R, Tiddi B, Di Bitetti MS, Agostini I. Grooming site preferences in black capuchin monkeys: Hygienic vs. social functions revisited. Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23336. [PMID: 34612524 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
When primates groom each other, they tend to concentrate on those parts of the body they cannot efficiently self-groom (i.e., not visually accessible), and prefer to intensify grooming in areas with high hair density, thus suggesting a hygienic function. However, preferences for some body sites over others during social grooming may also result from different degrees of social bonding and relative dominance. To assess the relative importance of physical (hygienic) and social factors, we examined grooming interactions in two groups of wild black capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) during 15 nonconsecutive months. We evaluated the distribution of social grooming across body sites according to their accessibility by self-grooming and hair density. At the same time, we assessed whether the degree of dyadic social bonding affects the relative body orientation between groomer and groomee and the access to vulnerable body sites (e.g., face, throat, groin) during grooming. As expected, capuchins preferentially groomed inaccessible body sites (e.g., back and head), with a disproportionate effort directed to the tufts of their partners. We found that dyadic social bond strength, together with rank distance, significantly affected the proportion of grooming in ventro-ventral body relative orientation only in dominant-subordinate groomer-groomee dyads. This may indicate that, when two individuals differ in rank but are strongly bonded, the level of uncertainty related to the social context is already resolved and thus grooming per se is no longer perceived by the subordinate as an uncertain/risky situation. We found no effect of social bonding on grooming vulnerable body sites for any type of dyad. Our findings suggest that grooming site preferences in black capuchin monkeys simultaneously reflect hygienic and social functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romina Pfoh
- Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS), Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Puerto Iguazú (Misiones), Argentina.,Asociación Civil Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA), Puerto Iguazú, Argentina
| | - Barbara Tiddi
- Department of Field Conservation and Science, Bristol Zoological Society, Bristol, UK.,Division of Human and Social Sciences, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Mario S Di Bitetti
- Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS), Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Puerto Iguazú (Misiones), Argentina.,Asociación Civil Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA), Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.,Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, UNaM, Eldorado, Misiones, Argentina
| | - Ilaria Agostini
- Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS), Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Puerto Iguazú (Misiones), Argentina.,Asociación Civil Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA), Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.,Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi (CENAC-APN), CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
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43
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Social group size influences pathogen transmission in salamanders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03057-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Solitary Living Brings a Decreased Weight and an Increased Agility to the Domestic Silkworm, Bombyx mori. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12090809. [PMID: 34564249 PMCID: PMC8470633 DOI: 10.3390/insects12090809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary We identified and validated that solitary living brings a decreased weight and an increased agility to silkworms. Solitary silkworms have a faster movement in response to food or physical stress than group-living counterparts. These contradict previous thoughts that solitary or lonely life is always harmful to animals or humans. We identified differently expressed genes (DEGs) and microRNAs (DEmiRNAs) resulted from solitary living. These DEGs and DEmiRNAs are functionally associated with the phenotypic changes led by solitary living. Abstract The domestic silkworms, Bombyx mori, always live in groups and little is known of the outcomes of solitary living. We bred solitary silkworms and performed a comprehensive investigation of the difference between solitary and group-living silkworms. The results show that solitary silkworms had significantly lower weights than group-living counterparts. Moreover, solitary silkworms had faster movements under food luring or heat stress than the group-living ones, supported by extensive behavior experiments. These findings inferred that an increased agility resulted from solitary living. For an understanding of the molecular mechanism associated with solitary living, we performed integrated mRNA and miRNA (microRNA) sequencing of tissues for solitary and group-living silkworms. We identified 165 differently expressed genes (DEGs) and 6 differently expressed miRNAs between the solitary and group-living silkworms. Functional and pathway analyses indicated that these DEGs are associated with weight loss and agility increase. These findings compose a sketch depicting an association between the phenotypes and genes resulted from solitary living and refresh the understanding of solitary living and loneliness, which has an increased prevalence in our modern society.
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45
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Alciatore G, Ugelvig LV, Frank E, Bidaux J, Gal A, Schmitt T, Kronauer DJC, Ulrich Y. Immune challenges increase network centrality in a queenless ant. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211456. [PMID: 34493081 PMCID: PMC8424377 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social animals display a wide range of behavioural defences against infectious diseases, some of which increase social contacts with infectious individuals (e.g. mutual grooming), while others decrease them (e.g. social exclusion). These defences often rely on the detection of infectious individuals, but this can be achieved in several ways that are difficult to differentiate. Here, we combine non-pathogenic immune challenges with automated tracking in colonies of the clonal raider ant to ask whether ants can detect the immune status of their social partners and to quantify their behavioural responses to this perceived infection risk. We first show that a key behavioural response elicited by live pathogens (allogrooming) can be qualitatively recapitulated by immune challenges alone. Automated scoring of interactions between all colony members reveals that this behavioural response increases the network centrality of immune-challenged individuals through a general increase in physical contacts. These results show that ants can detect the immune status of their nest-mates and respond with a general 'caring' strategy, rather than avoidance, towards social partners that are perceived to be infectious. Finally, we find no evidence that changes in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles drive these behavioural effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Alciatore
- Institute of Integrative Biology, ETHZ Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Line V. Ugelvig
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen N, Denmark
| | - Erik Frank
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Biocentre, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Jérémie Bidaux
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Asaf Gal
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Thomas Schmitt
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Biocentre, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Daniel J. C. Kronauer
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Yuko Ulrich
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany
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47
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Balasubramaniam KN, Beisner BA, McCowan B, Bloomsmith MA. Female social structure influences, and is influenced by, male introduction and integration success among captive rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta). BEHAVIOUR 2021; 158:1007-1042. [PMID: 36176722 PMCID: PMC9518721 DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/30/2023]
Abstract
Animal social structure is influenced by multiple socioecological factors. Of these, the links between changes to group demography through the arrival of new individuals and residents' social structure remain unclear. Across seven groups of captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), we examine how male introductions may be influenced by, and in-turn influence, aspects of female social structure. GLMMs revealed that males integrated more successfully into groups in which females showed more 'despotic' social structures, i.e., higher aggression rates, steeper dominance hierarchies, and greater rank-skew in allogrooming network connectedness. Yet during periods that followed males' social integration, females increased their social tolerance (decreased aggression and shallower hierarchies) and group cohesivity (less clustered allogrooming networks), but retained their tendencies to groom dominants. Our findings, independent of group size and matrilineal relatedness, help better understand how dispersal/immigration may influence social structure, and how assessing changes to social structure may inform macaque welfare and management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krishna N. Balasubramaniam
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis, Davis CA 95616, USA
| | - Brianne A. Beisner
- Department of Animal Resources, Yerkes National Primate Research Center Field Station, Emory University, Lawrenceville, GA 30043, USA
| | - Brenda McCowan
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis, Davis CA 95616, USA
| | - Mollie A. Bloomsmith
- Department of Animal Resources, Yerkes National Primate Research Center Field Station, Emory University, Lawrenceville, GA 30043, USA
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48
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A metapopulation model of social group dynamics and disease applied to Yellowstone wolves. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2020023118. [PMID: 33649227 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020023118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The population structure of social species has important consequences for both their demography and transmission of their pathogens. We develop a metapopulation model that tracks two key components of a species' social system: average group size and number of groups within a population. While the model is general, we parameterize it to mimic the dynamics of the Yellowstone wolf population and two associated pathogens: sarcoptic mange and canine distemper. In the initial absence of disease, we show that group size is mainly determined by the birth and death rates and the rates at which groups fission to form new groups. The total number of groups is determined by rates of fission and fusion, as well as environmental resources and rates of intergroup aggression. Incorporating pathogens into the models reduces the size of the host population, predominantly by reducing the number of social groups. Average group size responds in more subtle ways: infected groups decrease in size, but uninfected groups may increase when disease reduces the number of groups and thereby reduces intraspecific aggression. Our modeling approach allows for easy calculation of prevalence at multiple scales (within group, across groups, and population level), illustrating that aggregate population-level prevalence can be misleading for group-living species. The model structure is general, can be applied to other social species, and allows for a dynamic assessment of how pathogens can affect social structure and vice versa.
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49
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Turano A, McAuley EM, Muench MC, Schwarz JM. EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF NEUROIMMUNE DYSREGULATION ON SOCIAL BEHAVIOR OF MALE AND FEMALE JUVENILE RATS. Behav Brain Res 2021; 415:113449. [PMID: 34252501 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Many individuals diagnosed with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and social anxiety disorder, all share a common dimension of aberrant social behavior. Epidemiological data indicate that adverse environmental factors contribute to the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, including those associated with aberrant social behavior. Early-life exposure to infectious pathogens is one of those adverse environmental factors, suggesting that activation of the immune system during early development may contribute to disease pathology associated with altered social behavior. In the current project, we examined the impact of neonatal infection, with or without juvenile immune activation, on the expression of juvenile social behavior and on the expression of inflammatory cytokines and microglial signaling molecules in the juvenile rat brain. The outcomes of these experiments revealed that neonatal infection significantly decreased juvenile social interaction, but significantly increased juvenile play behavior in male and female rats. Moreover, neonatal infection alone, juvenile immune activation alone, and neonatal infection plus juvenile immune activation all significantly impaired social recognition in juvenile male rats. Juvenile female rats (including controls) failed to demonstrate social recognition as measured in our three-chamber social recognition test. Taken together, the behavioral and molecular data presented here support the sensitivity of the developing brain to immune activation, particularly in the expression of age-appropriate social behaviors. These data warrant the design of additional studies to examine the mechanistic relationship between early-life immune activation and aberrant social behavior to develop novel as well as modify existing therapeutic targets and preventative measures to help those who display aberrant social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Turano
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, Delaware, 19716, United States.
| | - Elizabeth M McAuley
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, Delaware, 19716, United States.
| | - Megan C Muench
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, Delaware, 19716, United States.
| | - Jaclyn M Schwarz
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, Delaware, 19716, United States.
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50
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Gameiro J, Veiga J, Valera F, Palmeirim JM, Catry I. Influence of colony traits on ectoparasite infestation in birds breeding in mixed-species colonies. Parasitology 2021; 148:904-912. [PMID: 33729107 PMCID: PMC11010175 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182021000470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Coloniality in birds is often associated with an increase in parasite burden, but whether the co-occurrence of several host species influences the prevalence and abundance of ectoparasites and their relationship with colony size or density remains poorly known. Here, we studied mixed-species breeding colonies formed after the provision of artificial breeding structures for restoring the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) population in Portugal, to investigate the influence of colony traits on ectoparasite infestation. We sampled four groups of ectoparasites (carnid flies, haematophagous mites, louse flies and chewing lice) in four hosts: lesser kestrels, European rollers (Coracias garrulus), feral pigeons (Columba livia) and spotless starlings (Sturnus unicolor). Each host species had a distinct infracommunity of ectoparasites, regardless of colony traits such as size, density or host richness. The abundance of the most common ectoparasite, Carnus hemapterus, was influenced by colony composition – number of nests of each host species – rather than by colony size or density, with its abundance being diluted with increasing numbers of less suitable hosts such as starlings. The increased contact between multiple species of hosts in breeding colonies may complexify host–parasite interactions and challenge our current knowledge on the ecological relationships between host sociality and parasitism.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Gameiro
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Jesús Veiga
- Departmento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Almería, Spain
| | - Francisco Valera
- Departmento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Almería, Spain
| | - Jorge M. Palmeirim
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Inês Catry
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwhich, UK
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