4.7 Article

Wolves contribute to disease control in a multi-host system

Journal

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44148-9

Keywords

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Funding

  1. MINECO Plan Nacional grant WILD DRIVER [CGL2017-89866]
  2. Maxwell Institute Graduate School in Analysis and its Applications, a Centre for Doctoral Training - UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/L016508/01]
  3. Scottish Funding Council
  4. Heriot-Watt University
  5. University of Edinburgh
  6. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO)
  7. University of Castilla-La Mancha through a Ramon y Cajal contract [RYC-2012-11970]
  8. Ministerio para la Transicion Ecologica, through Fundacion Biodiversidad

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We combine model results with field data for a system of wolves (Canis lupus) that prey on wild boar (Sus scrofa), a wildlife reservoir of tuberculosis, to examine how predation may contribute to disease control in multi-host systems. Results show that predation can lead to a marked reduction in the prevalence of infection without leading to a reduction in host population density since mortality due to predation can be compensated by a reduction in disease induced mortality. A key finding therefore is that a population that harbours a virulent infection can be regulated at a similar density by disease at high prevalence or by predation at low prevalence. Predators may therefore provide a key ecosystem service which should be recognised when considering human-carnivore conflicts and the conservation and re-establishment of carnivore populations.

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