title: Brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus): a model for differentiating the role of social networks and physical contact on parasite transmission dynamics.
abstract: Elevated risk of disease transmission is considered a major cost of sociality, although empirical evidence supporting this idea remains scant. Variation in spatial cohesion and the occurrence of social interactions may have profound implications for patterns of interindividual parasite transmission. We used a social network approach to shed light on the importance of different aspects of group-living (i.e. within-group associations versus physical contact) on patterns of parasitism in a neotropical primate, the brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus), which exhibits a high degree of fission-fusion subgrouping. We used daily subgroup composition records to create a 'proximity' network, and built a separate 'contact' network using social interactions involving physical contact. In the proximity network, connectivity between individuals was homogeneous, whereas the contact network highlighted high between-individual variation in the extent to which animals had physical contact with others, which correlated with an individual's age and sex. The gastrointestinal parasite species richness of highly connected individuals was greater than that of less connected individuals in the contact network, but not in the proximity network. Our findings suggest that among brown spider monkeys, physical contact impacts the spread of several common parasites and supports the idea that pathogen transmission is one cost associated with social contact.
authors: School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa; Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany Fundación Proyecto Primates Colombia, Cra. 11a No. 91-55, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Rimbach
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences and Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
authors: Donal
authors: D
authors: Bisanzio
authors: Fundación Proyecto Primates Colombia, Cra. 11a No. 91-55, Bogotá, Colombia Laboratorio de Ecología de Bosques Tropicales y Primatología, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Los Andes, Cra. 1 No. 18ª-12, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors: Nelson
authors: N
authors: Galvis
authors: Fundación Proyecto Primates Colombia, Cra. 11a No. 91-55, Bogotá, Colombia Laboratorio de Ecología de Bosques Tropicales y Primatología, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Los Andes, Cra. 1 No. 18ª-12, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors: Andrés
authors: A
authors: Link
authors: Fundación Proyecto Primates Colombia, Cra. 11a No. 91-55, Bogotá, Colombia Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors: Anthony
authors: A
authors: Di Fiore
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences and Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA thomas.gillespie@emory.edu.
authors: Thomas R
authors: TR
authors: Gillespie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053819:Atelinae / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D016358:Contact Tracing / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D008992:Monkey Diseases / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: contact networks; fission–fusion social structure; gastrointestinal parasites; parasite transmission; sociality