title: Disease spread in age structured populations with maternal age effects.
abstract: Fundamental ecological processes, such as extrinsic mortality, determine population age structure. This influences disease spread when individuals of different ages differ in susceptibility or when maternal age determines offspring susceptibility. We show that Daphnia magna offspring born to young mothers are more susceptible than those born to older mothers, and consider this alongside previous observations that susceptibility declines with age in this system. We used a susceptible-infected compartmental model to investigate how age-specific susceptibility and maternal age effects on offspring susceptibility interact with demographic factors affecting disease spread. Our results show a scenario where an increase in extrinsic mortality drives an increase in transmission potential. Thus, we identify a realistic context in which age effects and maternal effects produce conditions favouring disease transmission.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Scotland.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Scotland.
authors.forename: Jennie S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Garbutt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Scotland.|Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, The University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Scotland.
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McNally
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Scotland.|Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, The University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Scotland.
authors.forename: Tom J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Little
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D003621:Daphnia / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D000072741:Maternal Inheritance; D008954:Models, Biological; D058676:Pasteuria / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: 
  Daphnia
  ; Age; demography; ecology; epidemiology; evolution; immunity; maternal effects; modelling; senescence