Figure 1.

Resource supplementation can alter infectious disease dynamics in wildlife populations through a variety of direct and indirect mechanisms. At the individual level, supplementation can directly increase the survival and fecundity of hosts, and it can alter their production of parasites if infected, thereby influencing infectiousness. At the population level, supplementation can directly increase host density (via increases in survival and fecundity) and aggregation, potentially altering contact and transmission. At the community level, supplementation can indirectly alter disease dynamics by changing the nutritional quality of prey species, as well as attracting or stimulating the densities of competitors and predators of hosts and/or parasites. The relative importance of these direct and indirect mechanisms will likely depend on the duration of supplementation, initial densities of community members, parasite transmission mode and the traits of other species in the community.