Chytrid in the clouds: an alternative passive transport of a lethal pathogen for amphibians

Prado, Joelma S.; Ernetti, Julia R.; Pontes, Mariana Retuci; Toledo, Luı́s Felipe

doi:10.1007/s10750-023-05218-2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This lack of genetic structure in Bd was surprising to us because the two ephemeral ponds are separated by ~ 9 km, a distance greater than amphibians in this region are thought to disperse (Smith and Green 2005). The lack of genetic differentiation could be explained by these pond communities being parts of a metapopulation, connected by occasional dispersal (Hamer and McDonnell 2008) or by movement of Bd by more vagile animals (e.g., birds, Burrowes and De la Riva 2017) or through environmental sources like rain or fog (Kolby et al 2015, Prado et al 2023. Bd has been detected on the feet of birds, in the gut of cray sh, and on reptiles (Prahl et al 2020) in previous studies.…”

Section: Genetic Diversity Of Bd In Ephemeral Pondsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Spotted salamanders, American toads, and spring peepers, all of which hibernate terrestrially, were the rst amphibians to enter our fenced ephemeral ponds with Bd. This suggests that animals entering the pond to breed after overwintering in terrestrial hibernacula are one way that Bd can be brought to ephemeral ponds each spring and that transmission from permanent to ephemeral ponds via infected hosts or environmental sources (e.g., rain or fog, Kolby et al 2015;Prado et al 2023) may not be required to sustain Bd in ephemeral pond communities over time. However, the prevalence of Bd infection on ephemeral pond breeders in the early spring was low; only 28 of 137 of the ephemeral pond breeders (8 spotted salamanders, 12 wood frogs, 5 spring peepers, and 2 American toads) entering the fenced ponds in the rst month after they became active were infected with Bd.…”

Section: Sources Of Bd In Ephemeral Pondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To understand how pathogens are transmitted between individuals and across communities, it is critical to understand how infection dynamics differ across habitat types and how pathogens move from place to place. For Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), one of two chytrid fungi that cause chytridiomycosis in amphibians, the presence of a motile infectious zoospore stage means that transmission to new hosts readily occurs in aquatic environments (Greenspan et al 2012A) and may even be possible through rain or fog (Kolby et al 2015;Prado et al 2023). Even in the absence of hosts, Bd can persist in aquatic environments for long periods of time (e.g., up to 7 weeks in pond water, Johnson and Speare 2003), though it cannot survive desiccation for more than 30 minutes (Garmyn et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen

Saenz,

Byrne,

Ohmer

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Aquatic pathogens often cannot tolerate drying, and thus their spread and diversity across a landscape may depend on interactions between hydrological conditions and the movement of infected hosts. The aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a nearly ubiquitous pathogen of amphibians and particular lineages have been associated with host declines. By coupling amphibian surveys with molecular pathogen detection and genotyping techniques, we characterized the spatial dynamics and genetic diversity of Bd on a landscape containing both permanent and ephemeral ponds. At the start of spring breeding, Bd prevalence and load were lower on amphibians sampled from ephemeral ponds and the first amphibians to arrive at these ponds were species that breed in ephemeral ponds and likely emerged infected from terrestrial hibernacula. However, species from permanent ponds, which later visited the ephemeral ponds, had a greater prevalence and load of Bd, suggesting that migrants among ponds also move Bd across the landscape. The Bd we sampled was genetically diverse but showed little genetic structure among ponds, host species, or seasons. Taken together, our findings suggest that Bd can be diverse even at small scales and moves readily across a landscape with help from its hosts.

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Section: Genetic Diversity Of Bd In Ephemeral Pondsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Sources Of Bd In Ephemeral Pondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen

Saenz,

Byrne,

Ohmer

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen

Saenz,

Byrne,

Ohmer

et al. 2024

Oecologia

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Aquatic pathogens often cannot tolerate drying, and thus their spread, and diversity across a landscape may depend on interactions between hydrological conditions and the movement of infected hosts. The aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) is a nearly ubiquitous pathogen of amphibians and particular lineages have been associated with host declines. By coupling amphibian surveys with molecular pathogen detection and genotyping techniques, we characterized the spatial dynamics and genetic diversity of Bd on a landscape containing both permanent and ephemeral ponds. In doing so, we aimed to clarify how pathogen loads and prevalences vary across seasons and among habitat types, and which host species move the pathogen from place to place. At the start of spring breeding, Bd prevalence was lower on amphibians sampled from ephemeral ponds. For the remainder of the amphibian active season, prevalence was similar across both ephemeral and permanent ponds, with variation in prevalence being well-explained by a hump-shaped relationship with host body temperature. The first amphibians to arrive at these ephemeral ponds infected were species that breed in ephemeral ponds and likely emerged infected from terrestrial hibernacula. However, species from permanent ponds, most of which hibernate aquatically, later visited the ephemeral ponds and these animals had a greater prevalence and load of Bd , suggesting that migrants among ponds and pond types also move Bd across the landscape. The Bd we sampled was genetically diverse within ponds but showed little genetic structure among ponds, host species, or seasons. Taken together, our findings suggest that Bd can be diverse even at small scales and moves readily across a landscape with help from a wide variety of hosts. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00442-024-05642-8.

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Coevolution of a generalist pathogen with many hosts: the case of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

Carvalho,

Belasen,

Toledo

et al. 2024

Current Opinion in Microbiology

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Chytrid in the clouds: an alternative passive transport of a lethal pathogen for amphibians

Cited by 4 publications

References 53 publications

Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen

Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen

Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen

Coevolution of a generalist pathogen with many hosts: the case of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

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