Vector-borne diseases threaten human and agricultural health and are a critical component of the ecology of plants and animals. While previous studies have shown that pathogen spread can be affected by vector preferences for host infection status, less attention has been paid to vector preference for host sex, despite abundant evidence of sex-specific variation in disease burden. We investigated vector preference for host infection status and sex in the sterilizing 'anther-smut' pathogen (Microbotryum) of the alpine carnation, Dianthus pavonius. The pathogen is transferred among hosts by pollinators that visit infected flowers and become contaminated with spores produced by infected anthers. The host plant has a mixed breeding system with hermaphrodites and females. In experimental floral arrays, pollinators strongly preferred healthy hermaphrodites over both females and diseased plants, consistently across different guilds of pollinators and over multiple years. Using an agent-based model we showed that pollinator preferences for sex can affect pathogen spread in populations with variable sex-ratios, even if there is no preference for infection status. Our results demonstrate that vector preferences for host traits other than infection status can play a critical role in pathogen transmission dynamics when there is heterogeneity for those traits in the host population.

中文翻译：

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宿主性别比例的载体偏好和异质性会影响病原体在自然植物种群中的传播

病媒传播的疾病威胁人类和农业健康，是植物和动物生态学的重要组成部分。虽然之前的研究表明病原体传播可能受到媒介对宿主感染状态的偏好的影响，但很少有人关注媒介对宿主性别的偏好，尽管有大量证据表明疾病负担存在性别差异。我们调查了高山康乃馨 Dianthus pavonius 的杀菌“花药黑穗病”病原体 (Microbotryum) 中宿主感染状态和性别的载体偏好。病原体通过传粉者在宿主之间传播，传粉者访问受感染的花朵并被受感染花药产生的孢子污染。寄主植物具有雌雄同体和雌性的混合繁殖系统。在实验花卉阵列中，传粉者强烈偏爱健康的雌雄同体，而不是雌性和患病植物，在不同的传粉者行会和多年来一直如此。我们使用基于代理的模型表明，即使对感染状态没有偏好，传粉者对性别的偏好也会影响病原体在性别比例可变的人群中传播。我们的结果表明，当宿主群体中的这些性状存在异质性时，载体对感染状态以外的宿主性状的偏好可以在病原体传播动力学中发挥关键作用。即使对感染状态没有偏好。我们的结果表明，当宿主群体中的这些性状存在异质性时，载体对感染状态以外的宿主性状的偏好可以在病原体传播动力学中发挥关键作用。即使对感染状态没有偏好。我们的结果表明，当宿主群体中的这些性状存在异质性时，载体对感染状态以外的宿主性状的偏好可以在病原体传播动力学中发挥关键作用。