Spatial analyses of wildlife contact networks

Area of Science:

• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Epidemiology
• Network Science

Background:

• Wildlife contact networks are crucial for understanding infectious disease dynamics.
• Spatial constraints significantly influence contact patterns and disease transmission.
• Existing methods often overlook the quantifiable impact of spatial proximity on contact networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply novel methods for quantifying spatial constraints in wildlife contact networks.
• To assess how host density affects the spatial structure of contact networks.
• To explore the implications of density-dependent spatial structuring for pathogen persistence.

Main Methods:

• Developed a graph dissimilarity measure to assess the spatiality of contact networks.
• Employed statistical techniques to model contact rates based on spatial proximity.
• Applied these methods to 128 field vole (Microtus agrestis) contact networks derived from mark-recapture data.

Main Results:

• Contact networks increasingly resembled spatial proximity graphs as vole density rose.
• The average number of contacts per individual was positively correlated with vole density.
• At high densities, contact networks became more spatially structured, potentially limiting disease spread.

Conclusions:

• Host density is a key driver of spatial structuring in wildlife contact networks.
• Fluctuations in host density may not significantly alter pathogen persistence due to density-dependent changes in contact patterns and host behavior.
• Understanding spatial constraints is vital for accurate epidemiological modeling in wildlife populations.