Fundamental ecological processes, such as extrinsic mortality, determine population age structure. This influences disease spread when individuals of different ages differ in susceptibility or when maternal age determines offspring susceptibility. We show that Daphnia magna offspring born to young mothers are more susceptible than those born to older mothers, and consider this alongside previous observations that susceptibility declines with age in this system. We used a susceptible-infected compartmental model to investigate how age-specific susceptibility and maternal age effects on offspring susceptibility interact with demographic factors affecting disease spread. Our results show a scenario where an increase in extrinsic mortality drives an increase in transmission potential. Thus, we identify a realistic context in which age effects and maternal effects produce conditions favouring disease transmission.

中文翻译：

---

疾病在具有产妇年龄影响的年龄结构人群中传播。

基本的生态过程，例如外部死亡率，决定了人口年龄结构。当不同年龄的个体易感性不同或母亲的年龄决定后代的易感性时，这会影响疾病的传播。我们表明，年轻母亲出生的水蚤后代比年长母亲出生的水蚤更易受感染，并与以前的观察结果一起考虑，在该系统中易感性随年龄下降。我们使用易感感染的隔室模型来研究特定年龄的易感性和母体年龄对后代易感性的影响如何与影响疾病传播的人口统计学因素相互作用。我们的结果表明，外在死亡率增加会导致传播潜力增加。从而，