Let's stick together: Infection enhances preferences for social grouping in a songbird species

dc.contributor.authorLangager, Marissa M.en
dc.contributor.authorAdelman, James S.en
dc.contributor.authorHawley, Dana M.en
dc.date.accessioned2023-11-16T19:52:53Zen
dc.date.available2023-11-16T19:52:53Zen
dc.date.issued2023-10en
dc.description.abstractAcute infections can alter foraging and movement behaviors relevant to sociality and pathogen spread. However, few studies have directly examined how acute infections caused by directly transmitted pathogens influence host social preferences. While infected hosts often express sickness behaviors (e.g., lethargy) that can reduce social associations with conspecifics, enhanced sociality during infection might be favored in some systems if social grouping improves host survival of infection. Directly assaying social preferences of infected hosts is needed to elucidate potential changes in social preferences that may act as a form of behavioral tolerance (defined as using behavior to minimize fitness costs of infection). We tested how infection alters sociality in juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus), which are both highly gregarious and particularly susceptible to infection by the bacterial pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG). We inoculated 33 wild-caught but captive-held juvenile house finches with MG or media (sham control). At peak infection, birds were given a choice assay to assess preference for associating near a flock versus an empty cage. We then repeated this assay after all birds had recovered from infection. Infected birds were significantly more likely than controls to spend time associating with, and specifically foraging near, the flock. However, after infected birds had recovered from MG infection, there were no significant differences in the amount of time birds in each treatment spent with the flock. These results indicate augmented social preferences during active infection, potentially as a form of behavioral tolerance. Notably, infected birds showed strong social preferences regardless of variation in disease severity or pathogen loads, with 14/19 harboring high loads (5–6 log₁₀ copies of MG) at the time of the assay. Overall, our results show that infection with a directly transmitted pathogen can augment social preferences, with important implications for MG spread in natural populations.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was funded by NSF grants IOS-1754872 to D.M.H and IOS-1950307 to J.S.A.en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10627en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/116671en
dc.identifier.volume13en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWileyen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectdirectly transmitted pathogenen
dc.subjecthost social preferenceen
dc.subjecthouse finchen
dc.subjectMycoplasma gallisepticumen
dc.subjectsocial behavioren
dc.titleLet's stick together: Infection enhances preferences for social grouping in a songbird speciesen
dc.title.serialEcology and Evolutionen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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