Plants modulate multitrophic ecological interactions, and variation in plant traits can affect these interactions. Pollinators are exposed to pathogens at flowers and acquire or transmit pathogens at different rates on different plant species, but the traits mediating those interactions are almost entirely unknown. We experimentally manipulated five plant traits that span scales including flower, inflorescence, and plant, to determine their effects on pathogen transmission between foraging bees. Specifically, we manipulated two morphological traits (corolla lip length and flower orientation within an inflorescence) and three resource distribution traits (inflorescence nectar, plant patch nectar, and plant aggregation) in tents to test how plant traits affect bee pathogen transmission. We also quantified foraging behavior and fecal deposition patterns as potential mechanisms driving differences in transmission, and assessed trait manipulation consequences for bee reproduction. We found that pathogen transmission was reduced when we trimmed the corolla lip, evenly dispersed nectar distribution within an inflorescence, or aggregated plants in space. Some traits also affected bee reproduction; tents with trimmed corollas had more larval production than control tents, and tents with evenly distributed nectar across plant patches had more larval production than tents with clumped resources. Thus, some trait manipulations both reduced transmission and increased bee microcolony reproduction, although our design does not allow us to discern whether these are related or separate effects. Taken together, our results demonstrate causal effects of several floral traits on pathogen transmission and pollinator reproduction, indicating the importance of intraspecific plant trait variation for pollinator health and population dynamics.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9978041 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3866 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Rabies transmitted from vampires to cattle: An overview.
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America.
Rabies is a zoonotic infectious disease of global distribution that impacts human and animal health. In rural Latin America, rabies negatively impacts food security and the economy due to losses in livestock production. The common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, is the main reservoir and transmitter of rabies virus (RABV) to domestic animals in Latin America.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDistribution and viability of ocular and non-ocular Chlamydia trachomatis in households in a trachoma-endemic community in Oromia, Ethiopia.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
January 2025
International Centre for Eye Health, Clinical Research Department, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Background: We aimed to determine the household distribution and viability of Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) from the eyes, face, and hands during the initial two visits of a year-long fortnightly cohort study in geographically defined adjacent households.
Methods/findings: We enrolled 298 individuals from 68 neighbouring households in Shashemene Woreda, Oromia, Ethiopia. All individuals above 2 years of age residing in these households were examined for signs of trachoma.
East Asia and the Pacific Surveillance Metrics and History of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Updated Epidemiological Assessment.
JMIR Public Health Surveill
January 2025
Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics, Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, Northwestern University, 420 E. Superior, Chicago, US.
Background: This study updates the COVID-19 pandemic surveillance in East Asia and the Pacific we first conducted in 2020 with two additional years of data for the region.
Objective: First, we measure whether there was an expansion or contraction of the pandemic in East Asia and the Pacific region when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency of international concern on May 5, 2023. Second, we use dynamic and genomic surveillance methods to describe the dynamic history of the pandemic in the region and situate the window of the WHO declaration within the broader history.
Modulation of Cell Cycle Kinases by Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus.
J Med Virol
January 2025
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
The cell cycle is governed by kinase activity that coordinates progression through a series of regulatory checkpoints, preventing the division of damaged cells. The Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) encodes multiple genes that modulate or co-opt the activity of these kinases, shaping the cellular environment to promote viral persistence. By advancing the cell cycle, KSHV facilitates latent replication and subsequent transmission of viral genomes to daughter cells, while also contributing to the establishment of multiple cancer types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecular epidemiology, evolution, and transmission dynamics of raccoon rabies virus in Connecticut.
Virus Evol
December 2024
Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, 120 Green St., Athens, GA 30602, United States.
In North America, raccoon rabies virus (RRV) is a public health concern due to its potential for rapid spread, maintenance in wildlife, and impact on human and domesticated animal health. RRV is an endemic zoonotic pathogen throughout the eastern USA. In 1991, an outbreak of RRV in Fairfield County, Connecticut, spread through the state and eventually throughout the Northeast and into Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!