Research article

Microbial modification of host long-distance dispersal capacity

Sara L Goodacre^{* 1,6} , Oliver Y Martin^{* 1,2} , Dries Bonte^{* 3} , Linda Hutchings⁴ , Chris Woolley⁴ , Kamal Ibrahim⁵ , CF George Thomas⁴ and Godfrey M Hewitt¹

¹School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

²Experimental Ecology, Institute for Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

³Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

⁴Seale-Hayne Campus, University of Plymouth, Newton Abbot, UK

⁵Department of Zoology, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, IL, USA

⁶Current address : Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, UK

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

BMC Biology 2009, 7:32doi:10.1186/1741-7007-7-32

Published:	19 June 2009

Abstract

Background

Dispersal plays a key role in shaping biological and ecological processes such as the distribution of spatially-structured populations or the pace and scale of invasion. Here we have studied the relationship between long-distance dispersal behaviour of a pest-controlling money spider, Erigone atra, and the distribution of maternally acquired endosymbionts within the wider meta-population. This spider persists in heterogeneous environments because of its ability to recolonise areas through active long-distance airborne dispersal using silk as a sail, in a process termed 'ballooning'.

Results

We show that there is spatial heterogeneity in the prevalence of two maternally acquired endosymbiont infections within the wider E. atra meta-population and we demonstrate through several independent approaches a link between the presence of one of these endosymbionts, Rickettsia, and the tendency for long-distance movement.

Conclusion

This novel finding that particular endosymbionts can influence host dispersal is of broad importance given the extremely widespread occurrence of similar bacteria within arthropod communities. A bacterial phenotype that limits dispersal has the potential not only to reduce gene flow and thus contribute to degrees of reproductive isolation within species, but also to influence species distribution and thus overall community composition.