Daniel Becker (1), Daniel Streicker (2), and Sonia Altizer (1)
(1) Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
(2) Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow
Food provided by human activities such as agriculture, recreational feeding, and conservation management can be less seasonal and more spatially reliable than natural resources, and subsequent changes to wildlife ecology can have profound impacts on host–parasite interactions. Identifying behavioral or physiological traits of species associated with increases or decreases in parasitism with resource provisioning could improve assessments of infectious disease risk to hosts in changing environments. To address this gap, we conducted a phylogenetic comparative analysis of 285 host–parasite interactions across 55 wildlife species and two broad parasite taxonomic groups to identify host traits that influence whether resource provisioning is associated with increases or decreases in infection. After accounting for shared evolutionary history of hosts and uneven sampling effort, we found that supplemental resources increase infection with bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi for wide-ranging species, herbivores, and migrants. Yet for helminths and ectoparasites, provisioning was associated with reduced infection for generalist foragers, which could suggest human-provided foods enhance defenses against macroparasites or interrupt transmission for helminths with intermediate hosts. This analysis highlights host movement and feeding behavior traits as determinants of whether species experience greater infection measures under resource provisioning. Our results could help prioritize monitoring certain wildlife taxa to reduce infectious disease risk in provisioned populations.