Differential recruitment drives pathogen-mediated competition between species in an amphibian chytridiomycosis system.

ABSTRACT: Pathogens that infect multiple host species have an increased capacity to cause extinctions through parasite-mediated apparent competition. Given unprecedented and continuing losses of biodiversity due to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the causative fungus of the amphibian skin disease chytridiomycosis, a robust understanding of the mechanisms driving cross-species infection dynamics is essential. Here, we used stage-structured, susceptible-infected compartmental models to explore drivers of Bd-mediated apparent competition between two sympatric amphibians, the critically endangered Litoria spenceri and the non-threatened Litoria lesueurii. We additionally simulated the impact of plausible L. spenceri conservation management interventions on competitive outcomes between these two spe

SUBMITTER: Mangan MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11751701 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature