Wolves contribute to disease control in a multi-host system

• Main Authors: Tanner, Eleanor, White, Andy, Acevedo, Pelayo, Balseiro, Ana, Marcos, Jaime, Gortázar, Christian
• Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK), Scottish Funding Council, Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Ministerio de Transición Ecológica (España), European Commission
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2019
• Subjects: Pelayo; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/213101; https://doi.org/10.13039/100009767; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000266; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000360; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100007480; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000848

12 páginas, 5 figuras. We combine model results with feld 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 fnding 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 conficts and the conservation and re-establishment of carnivore populations. This is a contribution to MINECO Plan Nacional grant WILD DRIVER ref. CGL2017-89866 and EU-FEDER. Eleanor Tanner was supported by The Maxwell Institute Graduate School in Analysis and its Applications, a Centre for Doctoral Training funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant EP/L016508/01), the Scottish Funding Council, Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh. Pelayo Acevedo was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and the University of Castilla-La Mancha through a "Ramon y Cajal" contract (RYC-2012-11970). This research was also supported by Ministerio para la Transicion Ecologica, through Fundacion Biodiversidad. Peer reviewed