Are Toxoplasma gondii infections shaping predator-prey interactions in African savannas? – TOXOPRED

The TOXOPRED project will investigate the role of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in altering predator-prey dynamics in the large mammal communities of savanna ecosystems. T. gondii is known to manipulate the behavior of intermediate infected hosts, reducing fear and increasing risk-taking, thereby enhancing transmission to definitive felid hosts. While this phenomenon, termed "fatal attraction", has been well-studied in rodents in controlled environments, its occurrence and effects in wildlife remain largely unexplored.
The project aims to bridge this knowledge gap. Conducted in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and Kruger parks (South Africa) where lion infection rate by T. gondii is ~100%, it will do so by (1) assessing the prevalence of T. gondii infection in large mammal populations; (2) using biologging (i.e. animal-borne sensors) approaches to study, in wildebeest that will be our model species, the differences in behaviour between infected and non-infected individuals, focusing on vigilance while foraging, sleep, habitat selection and responses to predator cues; (3) modelling how infection rates within social groups could affect individual predation risk of infected and non-infected individuals. The consortium brings together experts of predator-prey interactions in savannas, of T. gondii biology and of biologging approaches to provide one of the most comprehensive understanding of how T. gondii influences predator-prey interactions in the wild.