title: The threat of disease increases as species move toward extinction.
abstract: At local scales, infectious disease is a common driver of population declines, but globally it is an infrequent contributor to species extinction and endangerment. For species at risk of extinction from disease important questions remain unanswered, including when does disease become a threat to species and does it co-occur, predictably, with other threats? Using newly compiled data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, we examined the relative role and co-occurrence of threats associated with amphibians, birds, and mammals at 6 levels of extinction risk (i.e., Red List status categories: least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, and extinct in the wild/extinct). We tested the null hypothesis that the proportion of species threatened by disease is the same in all 6 Red List status categories. Our approach revealed a new method for determining when disease most frequently threatens species at risk of extinction. The proportion of species threatened by disease varied significantly between IUCN status categories and linearly increased for amphibians, birds, and all species combined as these taxa move from move from least concern to critically endangered. Disease was infrequently the single contributing threat. However, when a species was negatively affected by a major threat other than disease (e.g., invasive species, land-use change) that species was more likely to be simultaneously threatened by disease than species that had no other threats. Potential drivers of these trends include ecological factors, clustering of phylogenetically related species in Red List status categories, discovery bias among species at greater risk of extinction, and availability of data. We echo earlier calls for baseline data on the presence of parasites and pathogens in species when they show the first signs of extinction risk and arguably before. La Amenaza de Enfermedades Incrementa a Medida que las Especies se Aproximan a la Extinción.
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Environmental Change Initiative, Box 1951, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Heard
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Katherine F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Kelsey
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ripp
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dittmeier
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goter
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Epidemiology, 121 S. Main St. Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Stephen T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: McGarvey
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000469:parasitology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D056727:Endangered Species; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D008322:Mammals / Q000469:parasitology*; D011156:Population Density; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: IUCN; UICN; en peligro; endangered; enfermedad infecciosa; especies amenazadas; infectious disease; parasite; parásito; pathogen; patógeno; threatened species
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