Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Aquatic pathogens often cannot tolerate drying, and thus their spread, and diversity across a landscape may depend on interactions between hydrological conditions and the movement of infected hosts. The aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a nearly ubiquitous pathogen of amphibians and particular lineages have been associated with host declines. By coupling amphibian surveys with molecular pathogen detection and genotyping techniques, we characterized the spatial dynamics and genetic diversity of Bd on a landscape containing both permanent and ephemeral ponds. In doing so, we aimed to clarify how pathogen loads and prevalences vary across seasons and among habitat types, and which host species move the pathogen from place to place. At the start of spring breeding, Bd preva

SUBMITTER: Saenz V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11624241 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature