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Evaluating the Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Environmental Characteristics in an Amphibian Disease System

McQuigg, Jessica L
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4940-6549
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1657724856475325

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology.
Infectious diseases of wildlife, which have been increasing in both frequency and severity in recent decades, threaten host species with decline and extinction. Disease dynamics are moderated by both abiotic and biotic environmental conditions, which have the capacity to influence hosts, pathogens, and how they interact. Any factors that are favorable to a pathogen or unfavorable to a host have the capacity to exacerbate the negative effects of pathogens. The amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has been recognized as one of the most devastating infectious diseases of wildlife to date, yet it coexists with hosts in some populations without causing apparent declines. I examined how abiotic and biotic environmental conditions influence Bd-anuran interactions in a system where the pathogen is present but pathogen-associated declines are not evident. My central hypothesis was that environmental characteristics that are unfavorable to Bd or favorable to anurans would mitigate negative effects of disease. To test this hypothesis, I conducted laboratory experiments and a field study measuring abiotic and biotic environmental conditions and landscape characteristics. My results showed that temperature, pH, ultraviolet radiation, and invertebrates can influence the abundance and infectivity of Bd through impacts on pathogen abundance and host responses to this pathogen. Furthermore, my research highlights that favorable conditions for hosts, such as high food availability, increase the probability of a host successfully combatting infection by Bd. Infection appears to come at a high metabolic cost and results in decreased growth in the majority of hosts tested. Further, overwintering may be the period when amphibians in the Midwest are most at risk of disease-associated mortality, and in some species such as American toads, Bd infection may devastate populations over winter. My laboratory studies suggested that environmental conditions may predict Bd prevalence in the field, and in a field survey, I detected Bd across life-stages in American toads. Infection prevalence was three times high in adults than in metamorphs and Bd intensity was predicted by abiotic conditions of pH and temperature, suggesting the importance of local environmental conditions in pathogen susceptibility. Overall, my research shows that both abiotic and biotic environmental characteristics are important to Bd-anuran interactions even in the absence of dramatic population declines.
Michelle Boone (Advisor)
David Berg (Committee Member)
Tereza Jezkova (Committee Member)
Craig Williamson (Committee Member)
Jing Zhang (Committee Member)
141 p.
Biology; Ecology; Wildlife Conservation
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Amphibian Chytrid Fungus; Overwintering; Sublethal Effects

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McQuigg, J. L. (2022). Evaluating the Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Environmental Characteristics in an Amphibian Disease System [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1657724856475325

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McQuigg, Jessica. Evaluating the Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Environmental Characteristics in an Amphibian Disease System. 2022. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1657724856475325.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McQuigg, Jessica. "Evaluating the Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Environmental Characteristics in an Amphibian Disease System." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1657724856475325

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1657724856475325
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© 2022, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.