Data from: Infectious disease transmission and behavioral allometry in wild mammals

1. Animal social and movement behaviors can impact the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases, especially for pathogens transmitted through close contact between hosts or through contact with infectious stages in the environment. 2. Estimating pathogen transmission rates and R0 from natural systems can be challenging. Because host behavioral traits that underlie the transmission process vary predictably with body size, one of the best-studied traits among animals, body size might therefore also predict variation in parasite transmission dynamics. 3. Here, we examine how two host behaviors, social group living and the intensity of habitat use, scale allometrically using comparative data from wild primate, carnivore and ungulate species. We use these empirical relationships to parameterize classical compartment models for infectious micro- and macroparasitic diseases, and examine how the risk of pathogen invasion changes as a function of host behavior and body size. We then test model predictions using comparative data on parasite prevalence and richness from wild mammals. 4. We report a general pattern suggesting that smaller-bodied mammal species utilizing home ranges more intensively experience greater risk for invasion by environmentally-transmitted macroparasites. Conversely, larger-bodied hosts exhibiting a high degree of social group living could be more readily invaded by directly-transmitted microparasites. These trends were supported through comparison of micro- and macroparasite species richness across a large number of carnivore, primate and ungulate species, but empirical data on carnivore macroparasite prevalence showed mixed results. 5. Collectively, our study demonstrates that combining host behavioral traits with dynamical models of infectious disease scaled against host body size can generate testable predictions for variation in parasite risk across species; a similar approach might be useful in future work focused on predicting parasite distributions in local host communities.Dryad carnivore helminth prevalenceThe prevalence of helminth parasites infecting wild carnivore species (a subset of the 2005 update of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad carnivore helminth PSRThe number of unique helminth parasites (parasite species richness (PSR)) infecting wild carnivore species (a subset of the 2005 update of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad ungulate helminth prevalenceThe prevalence of helminth parasites infecting non-domesticated ungulate species (a subset of the 2005 update of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad ungulate helminth PSRThe number of unique helminth parasites (parasite species richness (PSR)) infecting non-domesticated species (a subset of the 2005 update of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad ungulate virus bacteria prevalenceThe prevalence of microparasites (viruses and bacteria) infecting non-domesticated ungulate species (a subset of the 2005 update of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad ungulate virus bacteria PSRThe number of unique virus and bacteria microparasites (parasite species richness (PSR)) infecting non-domesticated ungulate species (a subset of the 2005 update of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad D-index carnivores primates ungulatesDefensibility index calculated from day range length and home range area for carnivores, ungulates, and primates. Data collated from PanTHERIA and Carbone et al. 2005. See the manuscript for further details.Dryad primate virus bacteria prevalenceThe prevalence of microparasites (viruses and bacteria) infecting wild primate species (a subset of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad primate virus bacteria PSRThe number of unique virus and bacteria microparasites (parasite species richness (PSR)) infecting wild primate species (a subset of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad primate helminth prevalenceThe prevalence of helminth parasites infecting wild primate species (a subset of Global Mammal Parasite Database).Dryad primate helminth PSRThe number of unique helminth parasites (parasite species richness (PSR)) infecting wild primate species (a subset of the Global Mammal Parasite Database).R0_microR code to calculate R0 for microparasites for mammalsR0_macroR code to calculate R0 for macroparasites for mammal