Variation in host home range size decreases rabies vaccination effectiveness by increasing the spatial spread of rabies virus

1. Animal movement influences the spatial spread of directly-transmitted wildlife disease through host-host contact structure. Wildlife disease hosts vary in home range-associated foraging and social behaviors, which may increase the spread and intensity of disease outbreaks. The consequences of variation in host home range movement and space use on wildlife disease dynamics are poorly understood, but could help to predict disease spread and determine more effective disease management strategies. 2. We developed a spatially-explicit individual-based model to examine the effect of spatiotemporal variation in host home range size on the spatial spread rate, persistence, and incidence of rabies virus (RABV) in raccoons (Procyon lotor). We tested the hypothesis that variation in home range size increases RABV spread and decreases vaccination effectiveness in host populations following pathogen invasion into a vaccination zone. 3. We simulated raccoon demography and RABV dynamics across a ra...