Biology subjects

Veitch, J. S. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Veitch, J. S. M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Age-dependent effects of infection on survival of a wild rodent reservoir host

Due to long co-evolutionary histories, many zoonotic pathogens are thought to exert little or no negative effects on their wildlife reservoir hosts. However, there remains a lack of rigorous investigations in natural settings. We conducted a 3-year factorial field experiment to investigate how survival of the Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) reservoir, the bank vole, is impacted by PUUV infection, nematode infections, and food availability. We hypothesized that PUUV would not impact survival, but that coinfection with nematodes would negatively impact survival, and that increased food availability would mitigate the negative effects of coinfection. Surprisingly, we demonstrated that PUUV infected voles had substantially reduced survival when compared to uninfected voles, and this strong negative effect manifested in young voles. Nematode removal increased survival of young voles and food supplementation interacted with movement rather than survival. Our results provide empirical evidence in a natural system for infection reducing survival of its reservoir host.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Food Supplementation Reduces Nematode Super-Shedding in a Wild Mammal

Anthropogenic changes to the environment, including altered food resource availability, influence host physiology, behaviour, and population dynamics, which can have strong downstream consequences on wildlife disease dynamics. Additionally, some individuals within a population contribute disproportionately to infection as super-shedders of infection, but the extent to which food availability alters the likelihood of super-shedding and overall parasite infection patterns is poorly understood. We conducted a three-year field experiment in southern Finland to investigate how food supplementation and parasite removal affect nematode infection measures and the relationship between nematode infection and fitness of wild bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus). Using a factorial design across 12 populations, we manipulated food availability and administered anthelmintic treatments to assess effects on nematode infection status, intensity, and two measures of super-shedding (abundance super-shedding, intensity super-shedding). We also examined parasite impacts on host fitness, including apparent survival probability and reproductive status. Food supplementation did not affect likelihood of infection, intensity or intensity super-shedding, but did reduce the likelihood of abundance super-shedding, suggesting an effect of food availability on infection heterogeneity. We also identified an interaction between nematode infection status and host age on fitness. Notably, infected younger individuals had reduced survival and reproduction, but infected older individuals had greater survival and reproduction compared to their uninfected counterparts. Our study provides novel empirical evidence on how anthropogenic changes in food availability can influence parasite transmission dynamics and the fitness consequences of these sub-lethal parasites in a wildlife system.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Effects of Food Addition and Helminth Removal on Space Use and Spatial Overlap in Wild Rodent Populations

1. Animal space use and spatial overlap can have important consequences for population-level processes such as social interactions and pathogen transmission. Identifying how environmental variability and inter-individual variation affect spatial patterns and in turn influence interactions in animal populations is a priority for the study of animal behavior and disease ecology. Environmental food availability and macroparasite infection are common drivers of variation, but there are few experimental studies investigating how they affect spatial patterns of wildlife. 2. Bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) are a tractable study system to investigate spatial patterns of wildlife and are amenable to experimental manipulations. We conducted a replicated, factorial field experiment in which we provided supplementary food and removed helminths in vole populations in natural forest habitat and monitored vole space use and spatial overlap using capture-mark-recapture methods. 3. Using network analysis, we quantified vole space use and spatial overlap. We compared the effects of food supplementation and helminth removal and investigated the impact of season, sex, and reproductive status on space use and spatial overlap. 4. We found that food supplementation decreased vole space use while helminth removal increased space use. Space use also varied by sex, reproductive status, and season. Spatial overlap was similar between treatments despite up to three-fold differences in population size. 5. By quantifying the spatial effects of food availability and macroparasite infection on wildlife populations, we demonstrate the potential for space use and population density to trade off and maintain consistent spatial overlap in wildlife populations. This has important implications for spatial processes in wildlife including pathogen transmission.

ecology↗