Social Barriers to Pathogen Transmission in Wild Animal Populations
Open accessAbstract
Diseases and pathogens are receiving increasing recognition as sources of mortality in animal populations. Immune system strength is clearly important in fending off pathogen attack. Physical barriers to pathogen entry are also important. Various individual behaviors are efficacious in reducing contact with diseases and pests. This paper focuses on a fourth mode of defense: social barriers to transmission. Various social behaviors have pathogen transmission consequences. Selective pressures on these social behaviors may therefore exist. Effects on pathogen transmission of mating strategies, social avoidance, group size, group isolation, and other behaviors are explored. It is concluded that many of these behaviors may have been affected by selection pressures to reduce transmission of pathogens.
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Indications that similar types of adaptive responses are found in other animals suggest that parasites had important impacts upon social life in deep-time evolutionary history.
“Furthermore, the indications that similar types of adaptive responses are found in other animals (Freeland 1976; Loehle 1995) suggest that parasites had important impacts upon social life in deep-time evolutionary history.”
From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Loehle 1995
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Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivism
Fincher, C. L., Thornhill, R., Murray, D. R., & Schaller, M. (2008) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0094 · Cited by 1,014 · see citing works
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The microbiota-gut-brain axis: neurobehavioral correlates, health and sociality
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Neuroendocrinology of social information processing in rats and mice
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Impaired discrimination of and aversion to parasitized male odors by female oxytocin knockout mice
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- Authors
- Loehle, C.
- Corresponding author
- Loehle, Craig
- ORCID
- Loehle, Craig
- Venue
- Ecology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1995-03
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 326-335
- ISSN
- 0012-9658 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-9170
- OpenAlex
- W2035240806
- Cited by
- 517
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 11.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Ecology (publishedVersion)
- University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) (submittedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (cc-by)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- pathogen transmission, wild animal populations, social behavior, mating strategies, social avoidance, group size, group isolation, disease resistance, immune system, selection pressure
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