Sociality, density-dependence and microclimates determine the persistence of populations suffering from a novel fungal disease, white-nose syndrome

Disease has caused striking declines in wildlife and threatens numerous species with extinction. Theory suggests that the ecology and density‐dependence of transmission dynamics can determine the probability of disease‐caused extinction, but few empirical studies have simultaneously examined multipl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2012-09, Vol.15 (9), p.1050-1057
Main Authors: Langwig, Kate E., Frick, Winifred F., Bried, Jason T., Hicks, Alan C., Kunz, Thomas H., Marm Kilpatrick, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive management
Animal and plant ecology
Animal Diseases
Animal populations
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Bats
Biological and medical sciences
Chiroptera - microbiology
climate change
Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change
conservation
density-dependent transmission
disease ecology
Earth, ocean, space
emerging infectious disease
endangered species
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
frequency-dependent transmission
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fungal infections
General aspects
Geomyces destructans
Hibernation
Humidity
Meteorology
Microclimate
Mycoses - veterinary
myotis
Population Density
Social Behavior
Temperature
white-nose syndrome
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Disease has caused striking declines in wildlife and threatens numerous species with extinction. Theory suggests that the ecology and density‐dependence of transmission dynamics can determine the probability of disease‐caused extinction, but few empirical studies have simultaneously examined multiple factors influencing disease impact. We show, in hibernating bats infected with Geomyces destructans, that impacts of disease on solitary species were lower in smaller populations, whereas in socially gregarious species declines were equally severe in populations spanning four orders of magnitude. However, as these gregarious species declined, we observed decreases in social group size that reduced the likelihood of extinction. In addition, disease impacts in these species increased with humidity and temperature such that the coldest and driest roosts provided initial refuge from disease. These results expand our theoretical framework and provide an empirical basis for determining which host species are likely to be driven extinct while management action is still possible.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01829.x