Spatially structured eco-evolutionary dynamics in a host-pathogen interaction render isolated populations vulnerable to disease

Layla Höckerstedt, Elina Numminen, Ben Ashby, Mike Boots, Anna Norberg and Anna-Liisa Laine ()
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Layla Höckerstedt: 00014 University of Helsinki
Elina Numminen: 00014 University of Helsinki
Ben Ashby: University of California
Mike Boots: University of California
Anna Norberg: University of Zürich
Anna-Liisa Laine: 00014 University of Helsinki

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract While the negative effects that pathogens have on their hosts are well-documented in humans and agricultural systems, direct evidence of pathogen-driven impacts in wild host populations is scarce and mixed. Here, to determine how the strength of pathogen-imposed selection depends on spatial structure, we analyze growth rates across approximately 4000 host populations of a perennial plant through time coupled with data on pathogen presence-absence. We find that infection decreases growth more in the isolated than well-connected host populations. Our inoculation study reveals isolated populations to be highly susceptible to disease while connected host populations support the highest levels of resistance diversity, regardless of their disease history. A spatial eco-evolutionary model predicts that non-linearity in the costs to resistance may be critical in determining this pattern. Overall, evolutionary feedbacks define the ecological impacts of disease in spatially structured systems with host gene flow being more important than disease history in determining the outcome.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-33665-3

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33665-3

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