title: West nile virus prevalence across landscapes is mediated by local effects of agriculture on vector and host communities.
abstract: Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) threaten the health of humans, livestock, and wildlife. West Nile virus (WNV), the world's most widespread arbovirus, invaded the United States in 1999 and rapidly spread across the county. Although the ecology of vectors and hosts are key determinants of WNV prevalence across landscapes, the factors shaping local vector and host populations remain unclear. Here, we used spatially-explicit models to evaluate how three land-use types (orchards, vegetable/forage crops, natural) and two climatic variables (temperature, precipitation) influence the prevalence of WNV infections and vector/host distributions at landscape and local spatial scales. Across landscapes, we show that orchard habitats were associated with greater prevalence of WNV infections in reservoirs (birds) and incidental hosts (horses), while increased precipitation was associated with fewer infections. At local scales, orchard habitats increased the prevalence of WNV infections in vectors (mosquitoes) and the abundance of mosquitoes and two key reservoir species, the American robin and the house sparrow. Thus, orchard habitats benefitted WNV vectors and reservoir hosts locally, creating focal points for the transmission of WNV at landscape scales in the presence of suitable climatic conditions.
authors: Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA. dcrowder@wsu.edu
authors: David W
authors: DW
authors: Crowder
authors: Elizabeth A
authors: EA
authors: Dykstra
authors: Jo Marie
authors: JM
authors: Brauner
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Duffy
authors: Caitlin
authors: C
authors: Reed
authors: Emily
authors: E
authors: Martin
authors: Wade
authors: W
authors: Peterson
authors: Yves
authors: Y
authors: Carrière
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Dutilleul
authors: Jeb P
authors: JP
authors: Owen
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology; D002980:Climate; D003465:Culex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006736:Horses / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000502:physiology*
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