{
  "abstract": "Small mammals are the principal hosts of arenaviruses and hantaviruses, yet the determinants of host status remain contested because global surveillance is non-random. We harmonised 729 studies comprising 695,000 diagnostic assays across 637 species and asked whether host status is predictable once surveillance effort is accounted for. Surveillance intensity was predicted by night-time light intensity and accessibility, but not local host richness, and sampling effort was phylogenetically clustered (Pagel's {lambda} = 0.43). Forty-six percent of rodent genera have never been sampled. In Bayesian phylogenetic mixed models of 43,677 host-virus pairs, faster-lived species tended to be detected as hosts more often, though the credible interval included zero (posterior mean = -0.125, 95% CrI [-0.29, 0.04], pd = 93.2%); the estimate was comparable when restricted to active infection. Synanthropy was independently associated with host status, obligate commensals showing approximately twice the odds. Predictions discriminated hosts from non-hosts in withheld continents (AUC 0.81-0.88), scored at observed sampling effort. Host and virus phylogenies were congruent in both families, though most associations departed from strict co-divergence, indicating host-switching alongside co-evolutionary history. Host phylogenetic diversity accumulated without saturating, and arenavirus hosts were discovered in a more phylogenetically clustered order than expected by chance, consistent with surveillance concentrating on relatives of known hosts. Projected globally, community host probability varied largely independently of species richness (R2 = 0.028), so diverse assemblages do not carry systematically elevated host probability. Surveillance bias is substantial and quantifiable, and host biology retains predictive value once it is accounted for.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Pennsylvania State University"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "D. Simons"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. Rivero"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Rickard"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Martinez-Checa"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Gordon"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. W. Redding"
    },
    {
      "name": "S. N. Seifert"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/92y04r3ef0rmk.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.06.03.729761",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.03.729761v2.full",
  "id": "92y04r3ef0rmk",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.03.729761v2",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "ecology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2725|Viral Infections and Vectors"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7163509124",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.03.729761v2.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-06-03",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/92y04r3ef0rmk.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:37Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.06.03.729761",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.03.729761v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:ecology",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Fast pace of life is associated with host status in small mammals, despite pervasive surveillance bias",
  "title_text": "Fast pace of life is associated with host status in small mammals, despite pervasive surveillance bias",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:37Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/92y04r3ef0rmk",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}