Infection with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis lowers heat tolerance of tadpole hosts and cannot be cleared by brief exposure to CTmax.

ABSTRACT: Climate change and infectious disease by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) are major drivers of amphibian extinctions, but the potential interactions of these two factors are not fully understood. Temperature is known to influence (1) the infectivity, pathogenicity and virulence of Bd; (2) host-parasite dynamics, especially when both hosts and parasites are ectothermic organisms exhibiting thermal sensitivities that may or may not differ; and (3) amphibian vulnerability to extinction depending on their heat tolerance, which may decrease with infection. Thus, in a global warming scenario, with rising temperatures and more frequent and extreme weather events, amphibians infected by Bd could be expected to be more vulnerable if temperatures approach their critical thermal

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Loras A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6488074 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature