DOI: 10.5061/dryad.866t1g1wd
title: A meta-analysis exploring associations between habitat degradation and Neotropical bat virus prevalence and seroprevalence

description: Habitat degradation can increase zoonotic disease risks by altering
 infection dynamics in wildlife and increasing wildlife–human interactions.
 Bats are an important taxonomic group to consider these effects, because
 they harbour many relevant zoonotic viruses and have species- and
 context-dependent responses to degradation that could affect zoonotic
 virus dynamics. Yet our understanding of the associations between habitat
 degradation and bat virus prevalence and seroprevalence are limited to a
 small number of studies, which often differ in the bats or viruses
 sampled, the study region, and methodology. To develop a broad
 understanding of the associations between bat viruses and habitat
 degradation, we conducted an initial phylogenetic meta-analysis that
 combines published prevalence and seroprevalence (“(sero)prevalence”) with
 remote-sensing habitat degradation data. Our dataset includes 588 unique
 records of (sero)prevalence across 16 studies, 64 bat species, and five
 virus families. We quantified the overall strength and direction of the
 relationship between habitat degradation and bat virus outcomes and tested
 how this relationship is moderated by the time between habitat degradation
 and bat sampling and by ecological traits of bat hosts while controlling
 for phylogenetic nonindependence among bat species. We found no effect of
 degradation on prevalence overall, although a weak effect may exist when
 forest loss occurs the year prior to bat sampling. In contrast, we
 detected a negative but weak association between degradation and
 seroprevalence overall that was strengthened when forest loss occurred the
 year prior to bat sampling. No bat traits that we investigated interacted
 with habitat degradation to impact virus outcomes, suggesting observed
 trends are independent of these traits. Biases in our initial dataset
 highlight opportunities for future work; prevalence was highly
 zero-inflated, and seroprevalence was dominated by Desmodus rotundus and
 rabies virus. These findings and subsequent analyses will improve our
 understanding of how global change affects host–pathogen dynamics.
description: # A meta-analysis exploring associations between habitat degradation and
 Neotropical bat virus prevalence and seroprevalence Authors: Alexis
 Heckley (corresponding): Redpath Museum and Biology Department, McGill
 University ORCID:000-0002-5644-3535
 () Lauren Lock: Department of
 Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman ORCID: 0009-0003-1731-1235
 () Daniel Becker: Department of Biology,
 University of Oklahoma, Norman ORCID: 0000-0003-4315-8628
 () Description of study: We conducted a phylogenetic
 meta-analysis to investigate how habitat degradation affects the
 prevalence and seroprevalence of Neotropical bat viruses. We looked at
 habitat degradation overall and tested how the relationships between
 habitat degradation and bat virus prevalence and seroprevalence are
 moderated by the time between degradation and bat sampling. We finally
 tested how this relationship is moderated by ecological traits of bat
 hosts (maximum colony size, roost duration, diet, wing aspect ratio,
 echolocation traits). Data consists of: 1. 'metaFragData.csv'.
 One author asked that we not share their data, and so the corresponding
 rows have been excluded from this dataset. Owing to conservation concerns,
 coordinates for sampling locations are not included in this dataset.
 Description of variables: * study_title - the full title of the study *
 authors - a short citation of study (name of first author and year that
 study was published) * country - country where bats were sampled *
 sample_year - year when bats were sampled * prev_or_sero - indicates
 whether the authors reported prevalence or seroprevalence data *
 host_species - bat species * virus_family - virus family * sample_size -
 the total number of bats sampled * host_positive - the number of bats that
 tested positive * diagnostic_method - single or multi assay. NAs in this
 column represent cases where this information was not available or clear
 in the methods of the original paper. * max_col_size - the maximum colony
 size that the bat species is reported to roost in. NAs in this column
 represent cases where we could not find maximum colony size information
 for a given species. * wing_aspect_ratio - wing aspect ratio of the bat
 species. NAs in this column represent cases where we could not find wing
 aspect ratio information for a given species. * diet - the primary diet of
 the bat species (animalivorous or non-animalivorous) * roost_duration - a
 numeric score to indicate whether the bat roosts in more ephemeral roosts
 (lower value) or more permanent roosts (higher value). NAs in this column
 represent cases where we could not find roost duration information for a
 given species. * pc1 - echolocation trait values. NAs in this column
 represent cases where we could not find echolocation information for a
 given species. * frag_year - the year that fragmentation occurred In the
 time year lag columns below (oneLag:seventeenLag), NAs represent cases
 where habitat degradation data were not available. * oneLag - degradation
 score for for degradation that occurred 1 year prior to bat sampling. *
 twoLag - degradation score for for degradation that occurred 2 years prior
 to bat sampling. * threeLag- degradation score for for degradation that
 occurred 3 years prior to bat sampling. * fourLag - degradation score for
 for degradation that occurred 4 years prior to bat sampling. * fiveLag-
 degradation score for for degradation that occurred 5 years prior to bat
 sampling. * sixLag- degradation score for for degradation that occurred 6
 years prior to bat sampling. * sevenLag- degradation score for for
 degradation that occurred 7 years prior to bat sampling. * eightLag-
 degradation score for for degradation that occurred 8 years prior to bat
 sampling. * nineLag - degradation score for for degradation that occurred
 9 years prior to bat sampling. * tenLag - degradation score for for
 degradation that occurred 10 years prior to bat sampling. * elevenLag -
 degradation score for for degradation that occurred 11 years prior to bat
 sampling. * twelveLag - degradation score for for degradation that
 occurred 12 years prior to bat sampling. * thirteenLag - degradation score
 for for degradation that occurred 13 years prior to bat sampling. *
 fourteenLag - degradation score for for degradation that occurred 14 years
 prior to bat sampling. * fifteenLag - degradation score for for
 degradation that occurred 15 years prior to bat sampling. * sixteenLag -
 degradation score for for degradation that occurred 16 years prior to bat
 sampling. * seventeenLag - degradation score for degradation that occurred
 17 years prior to bat sampling. * hft_mean - the mean degradation score
 calculated from the Human Footprint dataset (Venter, O. et al. 2018. Last
 of the Wild Project, Version 3 (LWP-3): 2009 Human Footprint, 2018
 Release.) * ghmt_mean - the mean degradation score calculated from the
 Global Human Modification of Terrestrial Systems dataset (Kennedy, C. M.
 et al. 2020. Global Human Modification of Terrestrial Systems.) *
 hansen_mean - the mean forest loss score calculated from the Hansen Global
 Forest Change dataset (Hansen, M. C. et al. 2013. High-Resolution Global
 Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change. - Science 342: 850–853.)