Spatial organisation plasticity reduces disease infection risk in rock-paper-scissors models.

Autor: Menezes J; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands; School of Science and Technology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59072-970, P.O. Box 1524, Natal, RN, Brazil. Electronic address: jmenezes@ect.ufrn.br., Batista S; School of Science and Technology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59072-970, P.O. Box 1524, Natal, RN, Brazil. Electronic address: simone.batista@ufrn.br., Rangel E; School of Science and Technology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59072-970, P.O. Box 1524, Natal, RN, Brazil. Electronic address: enzorangel.m@gmail.com.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Bio Systems [Biosystems] 2022 Nov; Vol. 221, pp. 104777. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Sep 05.
DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2022.104777
Abstrakt: We study a three-species cyclic game system where organisms face a contagious disease whose virulence may change by a pathogen mutation. As a responsive defence strategy, organisms' mobility is restricted to reduce disease dissemination in the system. The impact of the collective self-preservation strategy on the disease infection risk is investigated by performing stochastic simulations of the spatial version of the rock-paper-scissors game. Our outcomes show that the mobility control strategy induces plasticity in the spatial patterns with groups of organisms of the same species inhabiting spatial domains whose characteristic length scales depend on the level of dispersal restrictions. The spatial organisation plasticity allows the ecosystems to adapt to minimise the individuals' disease contamination risk if an eventual pathogen alters the disease virulence. We discover that if a pathogen mutation makes the disease more transmissible or less lethal, the organisms benefit more if the mobility is not strongly restricted, thus forming large spatial domains. Conversely, the benefits of protecting against a pathogen causing a less contagious or deadlier disease are maximised if the average size of groups of individuals of the same species is significantly limited, reducing the dimensions of groups of organisms significantly. Our findings may help biologists understand the effects of dispersal control as a conservation strategy in ecosystems affected by epidemic outbreaks.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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