摘要
Emergent infectious diseases represent a major threat for biodiversity in fragmented habitat networks, but their dynamics in host metapopulations remain largely unexplored. We studied a large community of pathogens (including 26 haematozoans, bacteria and viruses as determined through polymerase chain reaction assays) in a highly fragmented mainland bird metapopulation. Contrary to recent studies, which have established that the prevalence of pathogens increase with habitat fragmentation owing to crowding and habitat-edge effects, the analysed pathogen parameters were neither dependent on host densities nor related to the spatial structure of the metapopulation. We provide, to our knowledge, the first empirical evidence for a positive effect of host population size on pathogen prevalence, richness and diversity. These new insights into the interplay between habitat fragmentation and pathogens reveal properties of a host–pathogen system resembling island environments, suggesting that severe habitat loss and fragmentation could lower pathogen pressure in small populations.
摘要译文
紧张的传染病是分散的栖息地网络中的生物多样性的主要威胁，但它们在宿主组合中的动态仍然在很大程度上未被探索。我们通过高度分散的大陆鸟类化合物研究了大量的病原体群体（包括通过聚合酶链反应测定确定的26种血细胞，细菌和病毒）。与最近的研究相反，这些研究确定了由于拥挤和栖息地边缘影响，病原体的普遍性随栖息地分裂而增加，分析的病原体参数既不依赖于宿主密度，也不依赖于组织的空间结构。据我们所知，宿主人口规模对病原体流行率，丰富度和多样性的积极影响的第一个经验证据。这些对栖息地分裂和病原体之间相互作用的新见解揭示了类似于岛屿环境的宿主 - 病原体系统的性质，表明严重的栖息地丧失和破碎可能降低小群体的病原体压力。
Matthias Vögeli[1];Jesús A. Lemus[1];David Serrano[1];Guillermo Blanco[2];José L. Tella[1]. An island paradigm on the mainland: host population fragmentation impairs the community of avian pathogens[J]. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 2011,278(1718)