Environmental Persistence Influences Infection Dynamics for a Butterfly Pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Many pathogens, including those infecting insects, are transmitted via dormant stages shed into the environment, where they must persist until encountering a susceptible host. Understanding how abiotic conditions influence environmental persistence and how these factors influence pathogen spread are crucial for predicting patterns of infection risk. Here, we explored the consequences of environmental transmission for infection dynamics of a debilitating protozoan parasite (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) that infects monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). We first conducted an experiment to observe the persistence of protozoan spores exposed to natural conditions. Experimental results showed that, contrary to our expectations, pathogen doses maintained high infectivity even after 16 days in

SUBMITTER: Satterfield DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5242512 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature