title: Resistance in persisting bat populations after white-nose syndrome invasion.
abstract: Increases in anthropogenic movement have led to a rise in pathogen introductions and the emergence of infectious diseases in naive host communities worldwide. We combined empirical data and mathematical models to examine changes in disease dynamics in little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) populations following the introduction of the emerging fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes the disease white-nose syndrome. We found that infection intensity was much lower in persisting populations than in declining populations where the fungus has recently invaded. Fitted models indicate that this is most consistent with a reduction in the growth rate of the pathogen when fungal loads become high. The data are inconsistent with the evolution of tolerance or an overall reduced pathogen growth rate that might be caused by environmental factors. The existence of resistance in some persisting populations of little brown bats offers a glimmer of hope that a precipitously declining species will persist in the face of this deadly pathogen.This article is part of the themed issue 'Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences'.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, EE Biology/EMS, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA klangwig@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kate E
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8318-1238
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Langwig
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, EE Biology/EMS, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hoyt
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.|Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Science, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
authors.forename: Katy L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Parise
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, EE Biology/EMS, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.|Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX 78716, USA.
authors.forename: Winifred F
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9469-1839
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Frick
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.|Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Science, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, EE Biology/EMS, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: A Marm
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3612-5775
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kilpatrick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001203:Ascomycota / Q000502:physiology*; D002685:Chiroptera; D060467:Disease Resistance; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009181:Mycoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D011156:Population Density; D015995:Prevalence; D014768:Virginia / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Geomyces; Myotis lucifugus; Pseudogymnoascus destructans; host extinction; little brown bat; tolerance