Title
Epizootic to enzootic transition of a fungal disease in tropical Andean frogs: Are surviving species still susceptible?
Date Issued
01 October 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Swei A.
Finkle J.
Foreyt E.
Wyman L.
Vredenburg V.T.
Universidad Internacional de Florida
Publisher(s)
Public Library of Science
Abstract
The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes the disease chytridiomycosis, has been linked to catastrophic amphibian declines throughout the world. Amphibians differ in their vulnerability to chytridiomycosis; some species experience epizootics followed by collapse while others exhibit stable host/pathogen dynamics where most amphibian hosts survive in the presence of Bd (e.g., in the enzootic state). Little is known about the factors that drive the transition between the two disease states within a community, or whether populations of species that survived the initial epizootic are stable, yet this information is essential for conservation and theory. Our study focuses on a diverse Peruvian amphibian community that experienced a Bd-caused collapse. We explore host/Bd dynamics of eight surviving species a decade after the mass extinction by using population level disease metrics and Bd-susceptibility trials. We found that three of the eight species continue to be susceptible to Bd, and that their populations are declining. Only one species is growing in numbers and it was non-susceptible in our trials. Our study suggests that some species remain vulnerable to Bd and exhibit ongoing population declines in enzootic systems where Bd-host dynamics are assumed to be stable.
Volume
12
Issue
10
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85031789338
PubMed ID
Source
PLoS ONE
ISSN of the container
19326203
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus