Balasubramaniam_et_al_2022.pdf (1.35 MB)
Impact of joint interactions with humans and social interactions with conspecifics on the risk of zooanthroponotic outbreaks among wildlife populations
journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-26, 15:59 authored by Krishna N. Balasubramaniam, Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, Stefano S.K. Kaburu, Pascal R. Marty, Brianne A. Beisner, Eliza Bliss-Moreau, Malgorzata E. Arlet, Edward Atwill, Brenda McCowanPandemics caused by pathogens that originate in wildlife highlight the importance of understanding the behavioral ecology of disease outbreaks at human–wildlife interfaces. Specifically, the relative effects of human–wildlife and wildlife-wildlife interactions on disease outbreaks among wildlife populations in urban and peri-urban environments remain unclear. We used social network analysis and epidemiological Susceptible-Infected-Recovered models to simulate zooanthroponotic outbreaks, through wild animals’ joint propensities to co-interact with humans, and their social grooming of conspecifics. On 10 groups of macaques (Macaca spp.) in peri-urban environments in Asia, we collected behavioral data using event sampling of human–macaque interactions within the same time and space, and focal sampling of macaques’ social interactions with conspecifics and overall anthropogenic exposure. Model-predicted outbreak sizes were related to structural features of macaques’ networks. For all three species, and for both anthropogenic (co-interactions) and social (grooming) contexts, outbreak sizes were positively correlated to the network centrality of first-infected macaques. Across host species and contexts, the above effects were stronger through macaques’ human co-interaction networks than through their grooming networks, particularly for rhesus and bonnet macaques. Long-tailed macaques appeared to show intraspecific variation in these effects. Our findings suggest that among wildlife in anthropogenically-impacted environments, the structure of their aggregations around anthropogenic factors makes them more vulnerable to zooanthroponotic outbreaks than their social structure. The global features of these networks that influence disease outbreaks, and their underlying socio-ecological covariates, need further investigation. Animals that consistently interact with both humans and their conspecifics are important targets for disease control.
Krishna N. Balasubramaniam, Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, Stefano S. K. Kaburu, Pascal R. Marty, Brianne A. Beisner, Eliza Bliss-Moreau, Malgorzata E. Arlet, Edward Atwill & Brenda McCowan
History
Refereed
- Yes
Volume
12Issue number
11600Publication title
Scientific ReportsISSN
2045-2322External DOI
Publisher
Nature ResearchFile version
- Published version
Language
- eng
Legacy posted date
2022-09-16Legacy creation date
2022-09-16Legacy Faculty/School/Department
Faculty of Science & EngineeringUsage metrics
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