Social interactions do not affect Mycoplasma spp. infection in griffon vultures

Authors

• Elvira DBastiani*# (1)
• Nili Anglister# (2)
• Inna Lysynyansky (3)
• Inna Mikula (3)
• Marta Accio (2)
• Gideon Vaadia (2)
• Kaija Gahm (1)
• Orr Spiegel (2) (PI)
• Noa Pinter-Wollman (1) (PI)

Institutions

• (1) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
• (2) School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• (3) Mycoplasma unit, Department of Avian Diseases, Professor Kimron Str 1, Kimron Veterinary Institute (KVI), POB12, Beit Dagan, Israel.

These authors contributed equally.

**Corresponding author*: Elvira DBastiani - email: elviradbastiani@gmail.com

ORCIDs: - Elvira DBastiani: 0000-0002-8615-2763 - Nili Anglister: 0000-0002-6848-6348 - Inna Lysynyansky: 0000-0002-6923-3676 - Inna Mikula: without ORCID - Marta Accio: 0000-0002-9947-1181 - Kaija Gahm: 0000-0002-4612-4426 - Orr Spiegel: 0000-0001-8941-3175 - Noa Pinter-Wollman: 0000-0002-0448-8037

Running headline: Social interactions do not shape infection status

Abstract

Uncovering the ways in which pathogens spread has important implications for population health and management. Pathogen transmission is influenced by various factors, including patterns of social interactions and shared use of space. We aim to understand how the social behavior of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), a species of conservation interest, influences the presence or absence of mycoplasma, a group of bacteria known to cause respiratory diseases in birds. We investigated how direct and indirect social interactions of griffon vultures in the wild, in different social situations, impacted the mycoplasma infection status. We inferred interactions from high-resolution Global Positioning system (GPS) tracking data. Specifically, we assessed how social behavior affects infection status when vultures share feeding and roosting locations, either at the same time (direct interactions) or subsequently, when space use is asynchronous (indirect interactions). We did not detect a significant effect of any social situation and type of interaction on infection status. However, we observed a high population prevalence of mycoplasma, suggesting that other factors might be more important than social interactions in determining the transmission of this bacteria in the Israeli vulture population. Uncovering the mechanisms that underlie infection status in wildlife is crucial for maintaining viable populations, designing containment management actions, and gaining insights into the ecological mechanisms that drive infectious disease dynamics.

Keywords

feeding, infectious disease, movement ecology, pathogen transmission, roosting, social interactions.

NAMING

Manuscript (Branch)

Folder 1. Code
- File 1. README.txt
- File 2. Script1aCreatingnetworkstocofeeding.R - Script to creating networks to co-feeding interactions. - File 3. Script1bCreatingnetworkstocoroosting.R - Script to creating networks to coroosting interactions. - File 4. Script2Analysingnetworks.R - Script to analyzing the social position in the network (degree, betweenness, and strength) of griffon vultures. - File 5. Script3GLMM_analysis.R - Script to analysing the relationship between mycoplasma infection status and social position (degree, betweenness, and strength) of griffon vultures.

Folder 3. Sensitivity analysis for spatial distance effect

Co-feeding situation:

        - File 1. README.txt
        - File 2. results_DI_100meters_14days.txt
        - File 3. results_DI_10meters_14days.txt
        - File 4. results_DI_50meters_14days.txt
        - File 5. results_DI_75meters_14days.txt
        - File 6. results_IND_100meters_14days.txt
        - File 7. results_IND_10meters_14days.txt
        - File 8. results_IND_50meters_14days.txt
        - File 9. results_IND_75meters_14days.txt

Co-roosting situation:

        - File 1. README.txt
        - File 2. results_DI_100meters_14days.txt
        - File 3. results_DI_10meters_14days.txt
        - File 4. results_DI_50meters_14days.txt
        - File 5. results_DI_75meters_14days.txt
        - File 6. results_IND_100meters_14days.txt
        - File 7. results_IND_10meters_14days.txt
        - File 8. results_IND_50meters_14days.txt
        - File 9. results_IND_75meters_14days.txt

Folder 4. Sensitivity analysis for time window effect

Co-feeding situation:

        - File 1. README.txt
        - File 2. results_DI_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 3. results_DI_25meters_21days.txt
        - File 4. results_DI_25meters_28days.txt
        - File 5. results_DI_25meters_7days.txt
        - File 6. results_IND_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 7. results_IND_25meters_21days.txt
        - File 8. results_IND_25meters_28days.txt
        - File 9. results_IND_25meters_7days.txt

Co-roosting situation:

        - File 1. README.txt
        - File 2. results_DI_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 3. results_DI_25meters_21days.txt
        - File 4. results_DI_25meters_28days.txt
        - File 5. results_DI_25meters_7days.txt
        - File 6. results_IND_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 7. results_IND_25meters_21days.txt
        - File 8. results_IND_25meters_28days.txt
        - File 9. results_IND_25meters_7days.txt

Folder 5. Main results

        - File 1. README.txt
        - File 2. cofeeding_results_DI_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 3. cofeeding_results_IND_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 4. coroosting_results_DI_25meters_14days.txt
        - File 5. coroosting_results_IND_25meters_14days.txt

File formats:

       i.   Databases: .txt, .rda
       ii.  Geospatial: .kml
       iii. Scripts: .r
       vi.  Images: png
       v.   Text: pdf

Units of measurement:

      i. m = meters
      ii. sec = seconds
      iii. min = minutes
      iv. h = hour
      v. days

Data formats:

      i. DDMMYYYY
      ii. YYYYMMDD

Software:

      i. R version 4.3.1 (R Core Team, 2013)

Citation: DBastiani, E.*, Anglister, N., Lysynyansky, I., Mikula, I., Accio, M., Vaadia, G., Gahm, K., Spiegel, O., Pinter-Wollman, N. "Social Interactions and Mycoplasma Infection in Griffon Vultures." Journal of [Journal Name], [Year], [Volume(Issue)], [Page Range]. DOI: [DOI Number].