2024-03-28T21:50:16Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1828312019-08-06T06:26:55Zcom_10261_13com_10261_8com_10261_77col_10261_266col_10261_330
2019-05-30T08:00:46Z
urn:hdl:10261/182831
Infection with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis lowers heat tolerance of tadpole hosts and cannot be cleared by brief exposure to CTmax
Fernández-Loras, Andrés
Boyero, Luz
Correa-Araneda, Francisco
Tejedo, Miguel
Hettyey, Attila
Bosch, Jaime
Bosch, Jaime [0000-0002-0099-7934]
Climate change and infectious disease by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
(Bd) are major drivers of amphibian extinctions, but the potential interactions of these
two factors are not fully understood. Temperature is known to influence (1) the infectivity,
pathogenicity and virulence of Bd; (2) host-parasite dynamics, especially when both hosts
and parasites are ectothermic organisms exhibiting thermal sensitivities that may or may not
differ; and (3) amphibian vulnerability to extinction depending on their heat tolerance, which
may decrease with infection. Thus, in a global warming scenario, with rising temperatures
and more frequent and extreme weather events, amphibians infected by Bd could be
expected to be more vulnerable if temperatures approach their critical thermal maximum
(CTmax). However, it is also possible that predicted high temperatures could clear the Bd
infection, thus enhancing amphibian survival. We tested these hypotheses by measuring
CTmax values of Bd-infected and Bd-free aquatic tadpoles and terrestrial toadlets/juveniles
of the common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) and examining whether exposure of A.
obstetricans individuals to peak temperatures reaching their CTmax clears them from Bd
infection. We show that (1) Bd has a wide thermal tolerance range; (2) Bd is capable of altering
the thermal physiology of A. obstetricans, which is stage-dependent, lowering CTmax in
tadpoles but not in toadlets; and (3) Bd infection is not cleared after exposure of tadpoles or
toadlets to CTmax. Living under climatic change with rising temperatures, the effect of Bd
infection might tip the balance and lead some already threatened amphibian communities
towards extinction.
2019-05-30T08:00:46Z
2019-05-30T08:00:46Z
2019
artículo
PLoS ONE, 14(4): e0216090 (2019)
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/182831
10.1371/journal. pone.0216090
eng
Publisher's version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0216090
Sí
Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
openAccess
Public Library of Science