Social context alters host behavior and infection risk

Carl N Keiser, Volker H W Rudolf, Elizabeth Sartain, Emma R Every and Julia B Saltz

Behavioral Ecology, 2018, vol. 29, issue 4, 869-875

Abstract: Disease risk is influenced by hosts’ traits and their social environment. We tested how variation in host behavior and group sex ratio alter transmission of a fungal pathogen in Drosophila melanogaster. Hosts varied in behaviors that influence pathogen transmission, though factors of social context were the only predictors of infection risk: more infections were observed in female-biased groups. Social context may therefore be a more powerful predictor of disease risk compared to individual traits.

Keywords: host behavior; host genotype; infection risk; sex ratio; social context (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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