title: Evidence for carry-over effects of predator exposure on pathogen transmission potential.
abstract: Accumulating evidence indicates that species interactions such as competition and predation can indirectly alter interactions with other community members, including parasites. For example, presence of predators can induce behavioural defences in the prey, resulting in a change in susceptibility to parasites. Such predator-induced phenotypic changes may be especially pervasive in prey with discrete larval and adult stages, for which exposure to predators during larval development can have strong carry-over effects on adult phenotypes. To the best of our knowledge, no study to date has examined possible carry-over effects of predator exposure on pathogen transmission. We addressed this question using a natural food web consisting of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the mosquito vector Anopheles coluzzii and a backswimmer, an aquatic predator of mosquito larvae. Although predator exposure did not significantly alter mosquito susceptibility to P. falciparum, it incurred strong fitness costs on other key mosquito life-history traits, including larval development, adult size, fecundity and longevity. Using an epidemiological model, we show that larval predator exposure should overall significantly decrease malaria transmission. These results highlight the importance of taking into account the effect of environmental stressors on disease ecology and epidemiology.
authors.affiliation: Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC), UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-UM, Montpellier, France Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso olivier.roux@ird.fr.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.affiliation: Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC), UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-UM, Montpellier, France Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vantaux
authors.affiliation: UMMISCO (Unité de Modélisation Mathématique et Informatique des Systèmes Complexes), UMI IRD/UPMC 209, Bondy, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roche
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Koudraogo B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Yameogo
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Kounbobr R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Dabiré
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Abdoulaye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diabaté
authors.affiliation: Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC), UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-UM, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Simard
authors.affiliation: Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC), UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-UM, Montpellier, France Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lefèvre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D020387:Food Chain; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D008136:Longevity; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000635:transmission; D008297:Male; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000254:growth & development*; D011235:Predatory Behavior
keywords: Anopheles coluzzii; Plasmodium falciparum; carry-over effects; host–parasite and predator–prey interactions; life history; non-consumptive effects