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Urban Landscapes can change virus gene flow and evolution in a fragmentation-sensitive carnivore

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 16:06 authored by Nicholas Fountain-JonesNicholas Fountain-Jones, Craft, ME, Funk, WC, Kozakiewicz, CP, Trumbo, DR, Boydston, EE, Lyren, LM, Crooks, K, Lee, JS, VandeWoude, S, Scott CarverScott Carver
Urban expansion has widespread impacts on wildlife species globally, including the transmission and emergence of infectious diseases. However, there is almost no information about how urban landscapes shape transmission dynamics in wildlife. Using an innovative phylodynamic approach combining host and pathogen molecular data with landscape characteristics and host traits, we untangle the complex factors that drive transmission networks of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) in bobcats (Lynx rufus). We found that the urban landscape played a significant role in shaping FIV transmission. Even though bobcats were often trapped within the urban matrix, FIV transmission events were more likely to occur in areas with more natural habitat elements. Urban fragmentation also resulted in lower rates of pathogen evolution, possibly owing to a narrower range of host genotypes in the fragmented area. Combined, our findings show that urban landscapes can have impacts on a pathogen and its evolution in a carnivore living in one of the most fragmented and urban systems in North America. The analytical approach used here can be broadly applied to other host–pathogen systems, including humans.

Funding

National Science Foundation

History

Publication title

Molecular Ecology

Volume

26

Issue

22

Pagination

6487-6498

ISSN

0962-1083

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Place of publication

9600 Garsington Rd, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox4 2Dg

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Disease distribution and transmission (incl. surveillance and response)

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