Host relatedness and landscape connectivity shape pathogen spread in the puma, a large secretive carnivore

Abstract

Nick Fountain-Jones et al. use genomic and spatial data to examine how urbanization affects the spread of the pathogen feline immunodeficiency virus in pumas from areas of varying anthropogenic development. Their results show that landscape variables and host gene flow explained significant amounts of variation in virus spread in a region bounded by urban development but did not in a more wild landscape, demonstrating how anthropogenic landscapes can alter pathogen spread.