Résumé
Zoonotic diseases transmitted by wildlife affect biological conservation,
public and animal health, and the economy. Current research efforts are
aimed at finding wildlife pathogens at a given location. However, a
meta-analytical approach may reveal emerging macroecological patterns in
the host-pathogen relationship at different temporal and spatial scales.
West Nile Virus (WNV) is a pathogen with worldwide detrimental impacts on
bird populations. To understand macroecological patterns driving WNV
infection, we aimed to recognise unknown competent reservoirs using three
disease metrics serological prevalence (SP), molecular prevalence (MP) and
mortality (M) and test if these metrics are correlated with the
evolutionary history, geographical origin of bird species, viral strain,
time-space, and methodology. We performed a quantitative review of field
studies on birds sampled for WNV. We obtained 4945 observations of 949
species from 39 countries. Our analysis supported the idea that MP and M
are good predictors of reservoir competence and allowed us to identify
potential competent reservoirs. Furthermore, results indicated that the
variability of these metrics was attributable to phylogenetic, time-space,
and sample size. A macroecological approach is needed to recognise
susceptible species and competent reservoirs and to identify other factors
driving zoonotic diseases originating from wildlife.