Dataset Information

Population dynamics of the critically endangered toad Atelopus cruciger and the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

ABSTRACT: Harlequin toads (Atelopus) are among the most severely impacted amphibians by the emergence of chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease caused by the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Many species disappeared while others suffered drastic contractions of their geographic distribution to lower altitudes. A diminished virulence of Bd in warm habitats was proposed to explain the survival of lowland populations of harlequin toads (i.e. thermal refuge hypothesis). To understand the mechanisms that allow some populations to reach an endemic equilibrium with this pathogen, we estimated demographic and epidemiological parameters at one remnant population of Atelopus cruciger in Venezuela using mark-recapture data from 2007-2013. We demonstrated that Bd is highly virulent for A. cruciger, increasing the odds of dying of infected adults four times in relation to uninfected ones and reducing the life expectancy of reproductive toads to a few weeks. Despite an estimated annual loss of 18% of the reproductive population due to Bd-induced mortality, this population has persisted in an endemic equilibrium for the last decade through the large recruitment of healthy adults every year. Given the high vulnerability of harlequin toads to Bd in lowland populations, thermal refuges need to be redefined as habitats of reduced transmission rather than attenuated virulence.

SUBMITTER: Lampo M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5453621 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Population dynamics of the critically endangered toad Atelopus cruciger and the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

Lampo Margarita M Señaris Celsa C García Carmen Zulay CZ

PloS one 20170601 6

Harlequin toads (Atelopus) are among the most severely impacted amphibians by the emergence of chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease caused by the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Many species disappeared while others suffered drastic contractions of their geographic distribution to lower altitudes. A diminished virulence of Bd in warm habitats was proposed to explain the survival of lowland populations of harlequin toads (i.e. thermal refuge hypothesis). To understand the mechanisms t ...[more]

PMID: 28570689

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Project description:In the past century, recently emerged infectious diseases have become major drivers of species decline and extinction. Amphibian declines have occurred due to the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has exacerbated the conservation crisis of this taxonomic group. Biologists are beginning to understand what traits are important for susceptibility to this disease, but more work is needed to determine why some species succumb to disease while others do not. We conducted a laboratory experiment to examine how two toad species respond to infection in controlled environment. We selected two related species thought to differ in susceptibility â?? Bufo marinus (an invasive and putatively resistant species) and B. boreas (an endangered and putatively susceptible species). We measured infection intensity, body weight, histological changes at the site of infection, and genome-wide gene expression changes using a custom assay developed from transcriptome sequencing. Our results confirmed that the two species differ in susceptibility. The more susceptible species, B. boreas, experienced higher infection intensities, loss in body weight, more dramatic histological changes, and larger perturbations in gene expression. We found key differences in skin expression responses in multiple pathways including up-regulation of skin integrity-related genes in the resistant B. marinus. Together our results show intrinsic differences in host response between related species, which are likely to be an important factor in explaining variation in response to a deadly emerging pathogen in wild populations. We processed 72 tissue samples in total: six biological replicates, three tissue types (ventral skin, liver, spleen), two treatment groups (pathogen exposed, control), and two host species (Bufo marinus, Bufo boreas). The custom Nimblegen microarray design included 135,200 60-bp probes (excluding control probes) targeting 31,367 transcript contigs from Bufo marinus, Bufo boreas, and model species Xenopus tropicalis, with 4 probes per probe-set. We used the 12-plex microarray platform (12 arrays per glass slide). Differential expression analyses were performed separately for each tissue type and host species.

Dataset Information

Population dynamics of the critically endangered toad Atelopus cruciger and the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

Publications

Population dynamics of the critically endangered toad Atelopus cruciger and the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

Similar Datasets

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