Data from: Landscape genetics highlights the role of bank vole metapopulation dynamics in the epidemiology of Puumala hantavirus

Rodent host dynamics and dispersal are thought to be critical for
hantavirus epidemiology as they determine pathogen persistence and
transmission within and between host populations. We used landscape
genetics to investigate how the population dynamics of the bank vole
Myodes glareolus, the host of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), vary with forest
fragmentation and influence PUUV epidemiology. We sampled vole populations
within the Ardennes, a French PUUV endemic area. We inferred demographic
features such as population size, isolation and migration with regard to
landscape configuration. We next analysed the influence of M. glareolus
population dynamics on PUUV spatial distribution. Our results revealed
that the global metapopulation dynamics of bank voles were strongly shaped
by landscape features, including suitable patch size and connectivity.
Large effective size in forest might therefore contribute to the higher
observed levels of PUUV prevalence. By contrast, populations from hedge
networks highly suffered from genetic drift and appeared strongly isolated
from all other populations. This might result in high probabilities of
local extinction for both M. glareolus and PUUV. Besides we detected
signatures of asymmetric bank vole migration from forests to hedges. These
movements were likely to sustain PUUV in fragmented landscapes. In
conclusion, our study provided arguments in favour of source-sink dynamics
shaping PUUV persistence and spread in heterogeneous, western European
temperate landscapes. It illustrated the potential contribution of
landscape genetics to the understanding of the epidemiological processes
occurring at this local scale.