Over 80% of amphibian species that are declining are forest dependent. Forestry practices are a major cause of forest alterations globally, and it is well documented that clearcutting can contribute ...to amphibian declines. However, there might be adverse effects of forestry practices other than clearcutting. For example, planting overstory trees in rows (plantations) can change groundcover microhabitats and soil moisture levels, but the effects of this common practice on amphibian populations are not well studied. We compared the impacts of common intensive pine plantation operations to naturally regenerated pine forests on the desiccation, movement rates, behavior, and survival of >900 juvenile southern toads (Anaxyrus terrestris). Pine plantations had significantly more accumulation of conifer needles and less exposed soil, herbaceous groundcover, broadleaf litter, and soil moisture than natural pine forests despite the greater canopy cover at plantations. Litter cover explained 85% of groundcover microhabitat variance among forest types and predicted minimum soil moisture levels. When toads were held in small outdoor enclosures that constrained microhabitat selection, 24-h desiccation rates and 72-h mortality were significantly greater in pine plantation than in naturally regenerated pine forest because of lower soil moisture, especially during low rainfall periods. In large outdoor pens where juvenile amphibians could select microhabitats, movement was strongly directed down slope and increased with precipitation. However, initial speeds were positively associated with pine density, likely because toads were trying to evacuate from the drier high-pine-density areas. High-intensity silviculture practices that eliminate herbaceous or vegetative groundcover, such as roller chopping and scalping, increase amphibian desiccation because planted conifers dry the upper soil layer. Our study highlights the importance of prioritizing lower intensity silviculture practices or lower pine densities to retain groundcover microhabitat that serves as amphibian refugia from dry conditions that are predicted to increase in frequency with climate change.
Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) cause 20,000 infections annually in the United States, most of which are nosocomial. Recent findings of VRE in sewage-contaminated surface waters demonstrate an ...alternate route of human exposure, and a possible setting for horizontal gene exchange facilitated by plasmids and other mobile genetic elements. Maintenance of antibiotic resistance genes and proteins may, however, present a fitness cost in the absence of selective pressure, particularly in habitats such as environmental waters that are not optimal for gut-associated bacteria. Nutrient levels, which are transiently elevated following sewage spills, may also affect survival. We tested the hypotheses that nutrients and/or plasmids conferring vancomycin resistance affect Enterococcus faecium survival in river water by measuring decay of strains that differed only by their plasmid, under natural and augmented nutrient conditions. In natural river water, decay rate (log10 reduction) correlated directly with plasmid size; however, plasmid presence and size had no effect on decay rate when nutrients levels were augmented. Under natural nutrient levels, the vancomycin-resistant strain with the largest plasmid (200 kb) decayed significantly more rapidly than the plasmid-less, susceptible parent strain, in contrast to similar decay rates among strains under augmented nutrient conditions. This work is among the first to show that plasmids conferring antibiotic resistance affect fitness of Enterococcus species in secondary habitats such as surface water. The nutrient-dependent nature of the fitness cost suggests that conveyance of VRE to environmental waters in nutrient-rich sewage may prolong survival of these pathogens, providing greater opportunity for host infection and/or horizontal gene transfer.
•Vancomycin resistance plasmids exert fitness costs in surface waters.•Fitness costs are nutrient-dependent.•Size of plasmid is negatively correlated with survival.
Parasitism and predation have long been considered analogous interactions. Yet by and large, ecologists continue to study parasite–host and predator–prey ecology separately. Here we discuss strengths ...and shortcomings of the parasite-as-predator analogy and its potential to provide new insights into both fields. Developments in predator–prey ecology, such as temporal risk allocation and associational resistance, can drive new hypotheses for parasite–host systems. Concepts developed in parasite–host ecology, such as threshold host densities and phylodynamics, might provide new ideas for predator–prey ecology. Topics such as trait-mediated indirect effects and enemy-mediated facilitation provide opportunities for the two fields to work together. We suggest that greater unification of predator–prey and parasite–host ecology would foster advances in both fields.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , a pathogenic chytrid fungus implicated in worldwide amphibian declines, is considered an amphibian specialist. Identification of nonamphibian hosts could help explain ...the virulence, heterogeneous distribution, variable rates of spread, and persistence of B. dendrobatidis in freshwater ecosystems even after amphibian extirpations. Here, we test whether mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) and crayfish (Procambarus spp. and Orconectes virilis), which are syntopic with many amphibian species, are possible hosts for B. dendrobatidis . Field surveys in Louisiana and Colorado revealed that zoosporangia occur within crayfish gastrointestinal tracts, that B. dendrobatidis prevalence in crayfish was up to 29%, and that crayfish presence in Colorado wetlands was a positive predictor of B. dendrobatidis infections in cooccurring amphibians. In experiments, crayfish, but not mosquitofish, became infected with B. dendrobatidis , maintained the infection for at least 12 wk, and transmitted B. dendrobatidis to amphibians. Exposure to water that previously held B. dendrobatidis also caused significant crayfish mortality and gill recession. These results indicate that there are nonamphibian hosts for B. dendrobatidis and suggest that B. dendrobatidis releases a chemical that can cause host pathology, even in the absence of infection. Managing these biological reservoirs for B. dendrobatidis and identifying this chemical might provide new hope for imperiled amphibians.
Host behaviour is known to influence disease dynamics. Additionally, hosts often change their behaviours in response to pathogen detection to resist and avoid disease. The capacity of wildlife ...populations to respond to pathogens using behavioural plasticity is critical for reducing the impacts of disease outbreaks. However, there is limited information regarding the ability of ectothermic vertebrates to resist diseases via behavioural plasticity.
Here, we experimentally examine the effect of host behaviour on ranaviral infections, which affect at least 175 species of ectothermic vertebrates. We placed metamorphic (temporal block 1) or adult (block 2) southern toads (Anaxyrus terrestris) in thermal gradients, tested their temperature preferences before and after oral inoculation by measuring individual‐level body temperature over time, and measured ranaviral loads of viral‐exposed individuals.
We found significant individual‐level variation in temperature preference and evidence for behavioural fever in both metamorphic and adult A. terrestris during the first 2 days after exposure. Additionally, we found that individual‐level change in temperature preference was negatively correlated with ranaviral load and a better predictor of load than average temperature preference or maximum temperature reached by an individual. In other words, an increase in baseline temperature preference was more important than simply reaching an absolute temperature.
These results suggest that behavioural fever is an effective mechanism for resisting ranaviral infections.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
1. Environmental Stressors, such as pollutants, can increase disease risk in wildlife. For example, the herbicide atrazine affects host defences (e.g. resistance and tolerance) of the amphibian ...chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), but the mechanisms for these associations are not entirely clear. Given that pollutants can alter the gut microbiota of hosts, which in turn can affect their health and immune systems, one potential mechanism by which pollutants could increase infection risk is by influencing host-associated microbiota. 2. Here, we test whether early-life exposure to the estimated environmental concentration (EEC; 200 μg/L) of atrazine affects the gut bacterial composition of Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) tadpoles and adults and whether any atrazine-induced change in community composition might affect host defences against Bd. We also determine whether early-life changes in the stress hormone corticosterone affect gut microbiota by experimentally inhibiting corticosterone synthesis with metyrapone. 3. With the exception of changing the relative abundances of two bacterial genera in adulthood, atrazine did not affect gut bacterial diversity or community composition of tadpoles (in vivo or in vitro) or adults. Metyrapone did not significantly affect bacterial diversity of tadpoles, but significantly increased bacterial diversity of adults. 4. Gut bacterial diversity during Bd exposure did not predict host tolerance or resistance to Bd intensity in tadpoles or adults. However, early-life bacterial diversity negatively predicted Bd intensity as adult frogs. Specifically, Bd intensity as adults was associated negatively with the relative abundance of phylum Fusobacteria in the guts of tadpoles. 5. Our results suggest that the effect of atrazine on Bd infection risk is not mediated by host-associated microbiota because atrazine does not affect microbiota of tadpoles or adults. However, host-associated microbes seem important in host resistance to Bd because the early-life microbiota, during immune system development, predicted later-life infection risk with Bd. Overall, our study suggests that increasing gut bacterial diversity and relative abundances of Fusobacteria might have lasting positive effects on amphibian health.
For all parasites, transmission is composed of two processes: host contact with parasites (‘exposure’) and risk of infection given such contact (‘susceptibility’). Classic models, such as mass action ...(density‐dependent) transmission, lump these processes together. However, separating these processes could enhance predictions for disease dynamics, especially for free‐living parasites. Here, we outline three transmission models that partition exposure and susceptibility. Using data from a study of Schistosoma mansoni (trematode) infections in Biomphalaria glabrata snails, we competed these three models against four alternative models, including the mass action model (which lumps exposure and susceptibility). The models that separately accounted for exposure and susceptibility best predicted prevalence across the density gradients of hosts and parasites, outperforming all other models based on Akaike information criterion. When embedded into a dynamic epidemiological model, the exposure‐explicit models all predicted lower equilibrium densities of infected snails and human‐infectious cercariae. Thus, population‐level epidemiological models that utilize the classic mass action transmission model might overestimate human risk of schistosomiasis. More generally, the presented approach for disentangling exposure and susceptibility can distinguish between behavioural and immunological resistance, identify mechanisms of ‘disease dilution’ and provide a more complete dissection of drivers of parasite transmission.
Ecology Letters (2012)
Parasite infections often lead to dramatically different outcomes among host species. Although an emerging body of ecoimmunological research proposes that hosts experience a ...fundamental trade‐off between pathogen defences and life‐history activities, this line of inquiry has rarely been extended to the most essential outcomes of host‐pathogen interactions: namely, infection and disease pathology. Using a comparative experimental approach involving 13 amphibian host species and a virulent parasite, we test the hypothesis that ‘pace‐of‐life’ predicts parasite infection and host pathology. Trematode exposure increased mortality and malformations in nine host species. After accounting for evolutionary history, species that developed quickly and metamorphosed smaller (‘fast‐species’) were particularly prone to infection and pathology. This pattern likely resulted from both weaker host defences and greater adaptation by parasites to infect common hosts. Broader integration between life history theory and disease ecology can aid in identifying both reservoir hosts and species at risk of disease‐driven declines.
Widespread chemical contamination represents one of the largest threats of the Anthropocene. The Pesticide in Water Calculator (PWC) is a fate and transport model used by the Environmental Protection ...Agency and Health Canada to estimate pesticide exposures in lentic freshwater ecosystems and make pesticide registration decisions. Here, we show that maximum measured concentrations of 31% of herbicides and 42% of insecticides exceeded maximum estimated environmental concentrations (EECs) produced by the PWC, suggesting that EECs often do not represent worst-case exposure as they have been purported to do. Based on this observation, we generated statistical models using EECs and over 600,000 field measurements of 31 common insecticides and herbicides to document if the congruence of EECs and maximum field measurements could be improved by accounting for environmental sampling effort (number of times a pesticide is sampled) and contaminant application, factors commonly ignored in most fate and transport models. For lentic systems, variance in pesticide field measurements explained by EECs increased by 50% when sampling effort was included. For lotic systems, variance explained increased by only 4%, most likely because lotic systems are sampled over 4.9 times as much as lentic systems. Including use more than doubled the ability of the EECs to predict maximum pesticides concentrations in lentic systems. Our results suggest that exposure characterization in risk assessment can likely be improved by considering sampling effort and use, thus providing more defensible environmental standards and regulations.
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