Behavioral Immunity Suppresses an Epizootic in Caribbean Spiny Lobsters
Authored by III Thomas W Dolan, Mark J Butler, Jeffrey D Shields, Jr Donald C Behringer, Jessica Moss
Date Published: 2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126374
Sponsors:
United States National Science Foundation (NSF)
Platforms:
C++
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Flow charts
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Sociality has evolved in a wide range of animal taxa but infectious
diseases spread rapidly in populations of aggregated individuals, potentially negating the advantages of their social interactions. To
disengage from the coevolutionary struggle with pathogens, some hosts
have evolved various forms of ``behavioral immunity{''}; yet, the
effectiveness of such behaviors in controlling epizootics in the wild is
untested. Here we show how one form of behavioral immunity (i.e., the
aversion of diseased conspecifics) practiced by Caribbean spiny lobsters
(Panulirus argus) when subject to the socially transmitted PaV1 virus, appears to have prevented an epizootic over a large seascape. We
capitalized on a ``natural experiment{''} in which a die-off of sponges
in the Florida Keys (USA) resulted in a loss of shelters for juvenile
lobsters over a similar to 2500km(2) region. Lobsters were thus
concentrated in the few remaining shelters, presumably increasing their
exposure to the contagious virus. Despite this spatial reorganization of
the population, viral prevalence in lobsters remained unchanged after
the sponge die-off and for years thereafter. A field experiment in which
we introduced either a healthy or PaV1-infected lobster into lobster
aggregations in natural dens confirmed that spiny lobsters practice
behavioral immunity. Healthy lobsters vacated dens occupied by
PaV1-infected lobsters despite the scarcity of alternative shelters and
the higher risk of predation they faced when searching for a new den.
Simulations from a spatially-explicit, individual-based model confirmed
our empirical results, demonstrating the efficacy of behavioral immunity
in preventing epizootics in this system.
Tags
Predation
Spatially explicit
disease avoidance
Pathogen transmission
Infectious-disease
Group-size
Virus 1 pav1
Panulirus-argus
Social-behavior
Florida bay