Host traits and environment interact to determine persistence of bat populations impacted by white-nose syndrome.

ABSTRACT: Emerging infectious diseases have resulted in severe population declines across diverse taxa. In some instances, despite attributes associated with high extinction risk, disease emergence and host declines are followed by host stabilisation for unknown reasons. While host, pathogen, and the environment are recognised as important factors that interact to determine host-pathogen coexistence, they are often considered independently. Here, we use a translocation experiment to disentangle the role of host traits and environmental conditions in driving the persistence of remnant bat populations a decade after they declined 70-99% due to white-nose syndrome and subsequently stabilised. While survival was significantly higher than during the initial epidemic within all sites, protection from seve

SUBMITTER: Grimaudo AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9299823 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature