title: Does the dilution effect generally occur in animal diseases?
abstract: The dilution effect (DE) has been reported in many diseases, but its generality is still highly disputed. Most current criticisms of DE are related to animal diseases. Particularly, some critical studies argued that DE is less likely to occur in complex environments. Here our meta-analyses demonstrated that the magnitude of DE did not differ between animal vs plant diseases. Moreover, DE generally occurs in all three subgroups of animal diseases, namely direct-transmitted diseases, vector-borne diseases and diseases caused by parasites with free-living stages. Our findings serve as an important contribution to understanding the generality of DE.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences,Nanjing Normal University,210046 Nanjing,China.
authors.forename: Zheng Y X
authors.initials: ZYX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis,Wageningen University,6700AK Wageningen,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Resource Ecology Group,Wageningen University,6708PB Wageningen,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: VAN Langevelde
authors.affiliation: Resource Ecology Group,Wageningen University,6708PB Wageningen,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Willem F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: DE Boer
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D000818:Animals; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000276:immunology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology
keywords: Diversity–disease relationship; direct-transmitted disease; host species diversity; parasite with free-living stage; vector-borne disease