Effects of Snowpack, Temperature, and Disease on Demography in a Wild Population of Amphibians

Authors: Erin Muths; Blake R Hossack; Evan HC Grant; David S Pilliod; Brittany A Mosher
Contribution Number: 727
Abstract/Summary

Understanding the demographic consequences of interactions among pathogens, hosts, and weather conditions is critical in determining how amphibian populations respond to disease and in identifying site-specific conservation actions that can be developed to bolster persistence of amphibian populations. We investigated population dynamics in Boreal Toads relative to abiotic (fall temperatures and snowpack) and biotic (the abundance of another anuran host and disease) characteristics of the local environment in Wyoming, USA. We used capture-recapture data and a multi-state model where state is treated as a hidden Markov process to incorporate disease state uncertainty and assess our a priori hypotheses. Our results indicate that snowpack during the coldest week of the winter is more influential to toad survival, disease transition probabilities, and the population-level prevalence of the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in the spring, than temperatures in the fall or the presence of another host. As hypothesized, apparent survival at low (i.e., <25 cm) snowpack (https://0.22 [CI: 0.15–0.31]) was lower than apparent survival at high snowpack (https://90.65 [CI: 0.50–0.78]). Our findings highlight the potential for local environmental factors, like snowpack, to influence disease and host persistence, and demonstrate the ecological complexity of disease effects on population demography in natural environments. This work further emphasizes the need for improved understanding of how climate change may influence the relationships among pathogens, hosts, and their environment for wild animal populations challenged by disease.

Publication details
Published Date: 2020-06
Outlet/Publisher: Herpetologica
Media Format: .PDF

ARMI Organizational Units:
Rocky Mountains, Southern - Biology
Topics:
Climate Change; Disease; Species and their Ecology
Place Names:
Wyoming
Keywords:
amphibians; Bd; climate; conservation; disease; ecology; mark-recapture; pathogen; population; research; stressors
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