Data for: Pathogens and predators: examining the separate and combined effects of natural enemies on community structure

<p>Natural enemy ecology strives to unify predator-prey and host-pathogen interactions under a common framework to gain insights into community- and ecosystem-level processes. To address this goal, we need a greater emphasis on: 1) quantifying pathogen-mediated effects on community structure to enable comparisons with predator-mediated effects and 2) determining the interactive effects of combined natural enemies on communities. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to assess the individual and combined effects of predators (dragonfly larvae and adult water bugs) and a pathogen (ranavirus) on the abundance and composition of a larval amphibian assemblage. We found that our three natural enemies structured communities in unique ways, producing distinct assemblages. Additionally, we found that in combination treatments, predators dominated the influence of virus, resulting in assemblages most closely resembling their respective predator treatments. We also found that predators reduced infection prevalence in combination treatments, and that the magnitude of this effect was dependent on predator identity. Compared to virus-alone treatments, the presence of dragonflies and water bugs reduced infection prevalence by 79% and 63%, respectively. Additionally, the presence of dragonflies eliminated ranavirus infection in two species, which demonstrates the important role of predators in disease dynamics in this system. Overall, this work demonstrates the importance of considering natural enemies in a community context, as each enemy can elicit a unique structural change. Additionally, this study provides a unique empirical test of the healthy herds hypothesis at the community level and underscores the importance of advancing our understanding of multi-enemy interactions within communities. </p>