Cannibalism and Infectious Disease: Friends or Foes?

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dc.citation.firstpage299en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber3en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleThe American Naturalisten_US
dc.citation.lastpage312en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber190en_US
dc.contributor.authorVan Allen, Benjamin G.en_US
dc.contributor.authorDillemuth, Forrest P.en_US
dc.contributor.authorFlick, Andrew J.en_US
dc.contributor.authorFaldyn, Matthew J.en_US
dc.contributor.authorClark, David R.en_US
dc.contributor.authorRudolf, Volker H.W.en_US
dc.contributor.authorElderd, Bret D.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2017-10-27T15:22:49Zen_US
dc.date.available2017-10-27T15:22:49Zen_US
dc.date.issued2017en_US
dc.description.abstractCannibalism occurs in a majority of both carnivorous and noncarnivorous animal taxa from invertebrates to mammals. Similarly, infectious parasites are ubiquitous in nature. Thus, interactions between cannibalism and disease occur regularly. While some adaptive benefits of cannibalism are clear, the prevailing view is that the risk of parasite transmission due to cannibalism would increase disease spread and, thus, limit the evolutionary extent of cannibalism throughout the animal kingdom. In contrast, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the other half of the interaction between cannibalism and disease, that is, how cannibalism affects parasites. Here we examine the interaction between cannibalism and parasites and show how advances across independent lines of research suggest that cannibalism can also reduce the prevalence of parasites and, thus, infection risk for cannibals. Cannibalism does this by both directly killing parasites in infected victims and by reducing the number of susceptible hosts, often enhanced by the stage-structured nature of cannibalism and infection. While the well-established view that disease should limit cannibalism has held sway, we present theory and examples from a synthesis of the literature showing how cannibalism may also limit disease and highlight key areas where conceptual and empirical work is needed to resolve this debate.en_US
dc.identifier.citationVan Allen, Benjamin G., Dillemuth, Forrest P., Flick, Andrew J., et al.. "Cannibalism and Infectious Disease: Friends or Foes?." <i>The American Naturalist,</i> 190, no. 3 (2017) The University of Chicago Press: 299-312. https://doi.org/10.1086/692734.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1086/692734en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/97826en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherThe University of Chicago Pressen_US
dc.rightsArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.en_US
dc.subject.keywordcannibalismen_US
dc.subject.keywordtransmissionen_US
dc.subject.keywordparasiteen_US
dc.subject.keyworddiseaseen_US
dc.subject.keywordtrophic transmissionen_US
dc.subject.keywordepidemicen_US
dc.titleCannibalism and Infectious Disease: Friends or Foes?en_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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