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Does the dilution effect generally occur in animal diseases?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2017

ZHENG Y. X. HUANG*
Affiliation:
College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, 210046 Nanjing, China Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, 6708PB Wageningen, the Netherlands
YANG YU
Affiliation:
Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, 6700AK Wageningen, the Netherlands
FRANK VAN LANGEVELDE
Affiliation:
Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, 6708PB Wageningen, the Netherlands
WILLEM F. DE BOER
Affiliation:
Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, 6708PB Wageningen, the Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author: Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road 1, 210023 Nanjing, China. E-mail: zhengyxhuang@gmail.com

Summary

The dilution effect (DE) has been reported in many diseases, but its generality is still highly disputed. Most current criticisms of DE are related to animal diseases. Particularly, some critical studies argued that DE is less likely to occur in complex environments. Here our meta-analyses demonstrated that the magnitude of DE did not differ between animal vs plant diseases. Moreover, DE generally occurs in all three subgroups of animal diseases, namely direct-transmitted diseases, vector-borne diseases and diseases caused by parasites with free-living stages. Our findings serve as an important contribution to understanding the generality of DE.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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