Variation in pathogen load and the pathogen load–infectiousness relationship broaden avian malaria’s distribution

The infectiousness of host species and the feeding patterns of vectors influence pathogen distribution and transmission intensity. Two aspects of host infectiousness shape transmission but are underappreciated: the relationship between pathogen load and infectiousness and variability in pathogen load within species. We quantified the relationship between host parasitemia for avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) and infectiousness for biting Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes using experimentally infected birds. We used this relationship and 4,218 samples from wild birds to estimate the relative importance of hosts’ acute and chronic stages of infection, the infectiousness of 17 bird species in Hawaiʻi, and mosquito feeding preferences. Infectiousness to mosquitoes increased with host parasitemia (and temperature and time since feeding), but the relationship’s gradual slope led to a wide range of parasitemias being partly infectious to mosquitoes. Chronic stage infections create far more i..., This dataset contains the data and code required to replicate analyses in Seidl et al. 2025, which examines the contribution of host community composition to pathogen transmission and distribution and how these are influenced by the relationship between pathogen load and infectiousness and variability in pathogen load within host species. The study system described by the data is avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) in birds in the Hawaiian Islands, USA. Multiple files are included, containing data from field and laboratory studies, mathematical models, and published literature. Some of the files describe a series of experiments with mosquitoes, avian malaria, and domestic canaries. Other files report results from avian malaria sampling of wild birds in Hawaii that was conducted in 2015-2017 by the Hawai‘i Vertebrate Introductions and Novel Ecosystems project, in 2018-2021 by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Avian Malaria Genomic Research Project, and in 2019-2020 by author C.M. Seidl as par..., , # Variation in pathogen load and the pathogen load–infectiousness relationship broaden avian malaria’s distribution

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1jwstr24](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1jwstr24)

### Description of the data and file structure -

**This dataset includes R code and data files in .csv format for:**

* Avian malaria experimental infections studies in birds (wild and domestic)
* Mosquito infection results across different temperatures and temperature-dependent days post feeding
* Avian malaria infection prevalence and demographic data for birds in Hawaii
* Point count surveys and bird species density estimates by site in Hawaii

#### Ethics Approval

All work with wild and laboratory birds was performed under animal care and use protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of California in Santa Cruz, USA (Kilpm2003). We conducted fieldwork under Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife Protected Wildlife Permits (WL19-23; WL ...,

宿主物种的感染性以及媒介的取食模式会影响病原体的分布与传播强度。宿主感染性的两个维度对传播至关重要却未得到足够重视：病原体载量与感染性之间的关联，以及同一宿主物种内部病原体载量的变异性。我们通过实验感染鸟类，量化了禽疟疾（Plasmodium relictum）的宿主虫血症与致倦库蚊（Culex quinquefasciatus）叮咬感染性之间的关系。我们利用该关联以及4218份野生鸟类样本，估算了宿主急性与慢性感染阶段的相对重要性、夏威夷17种鸟类的感染性，以及蚊虫的取食偏好。蚊虫的感染性随宿主虫血症水平（以及环境温度、取食后时长）升高而增强，但该关系的平缓斜率使得大范围的虫血症水平均可对蚊虫产生部分感染性。慢性阶段的感染会产生远多[...]

本数据集包含可复现Seidl等人2025年研究所需的数据与代码，该研究探讨了宿主群落组成对病原体传播与分布的贡献，以及宿主物种内部病原体载量与感染性的关联、病原体载量变异性如何影响上述过程。本数据集对应的研究系统为美国夏威夷群岛鸟类所感染的禽疟疾（Plasmodium relictum）。数据集包含多个文件，涵盖野外与实验室研究数据、数学模型以及已发表文献。部分文件描述了针对蚊虫、禽疟疾与家养金丝雀的一系列实验；其余文件则报告了夏威夷野生鸟类禽疟疾采样结果，这些采样分别由夏威夷脊椎动物引入与新型生态系统项目于2015-2017年开展、美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey）禽疟疾基因组研究项目于2018-2021年开展，以及作者C.M. Seidl于2019-2020年开展[...]

# 病原体载量变异与载量-感染性关联拓宽了禽疟疾的分布范围
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1jwstr24

### 数据与文件结构说明
**本数据集包含R代码与.csv格式的数据文件，用于以下研究内容：**
* 鸟类（野生与家养）的禽疟疾实验感染研究
* 不同温度条件下以及取食后天数与温度相关的蚊虫感染结果
* 夏威夷地区鸟类的禽疟疾感染率与种群统计数据
* 夏威夷各监测点的鸟类样点调查数据与物种密度估算结果

#### 伦理审批
所有涉及野生与实验鸟类的工作均按照美国加州大学圣克鲁兹分校机构动物护理与使用委员会批准的方案实施（批准号Kilpm2003）。野外工作已获得夏威夷林业与野生动物局保护野生动物许可（WL19-23；WL [...]