Date:
Location:
Ana Longo
University of Maryland
"Multi-Host Fungal Pathogens: Challenges and Opportunities in Conserving Global Amphibian Diversity"
Abstract: The rapid spread of infectious diseases in humans, wildlife and crops is posing novel challenges in the way and speed that we traditionally respond to biological threats. Recent die-offs of sea-stars, amphibians and bats demonstrate that the emergence of multi-host pathogens leaves a clear trace of disease-driven loss of biodiversity in natural habitats and impacts ecosystem function and stability. My research aims to identify and quantify the ecological factors and evolutionary processes involved in species persistence during and after disease outbreaks. In this talk, I discuss the impacts of two fungal pathogens: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal). These skin fungi are causing mass mortality events and population declines of amphibians around the world. Bd currently infects more than 500 of amphibian species globally. In contrast, B. salamandrivorans is restricted to Europe and Asia and has not been found in the United States. However, it is predicted to emerge there given the presence of competent hosts, high volume import pathways, and the lack of effective biosecurity measures to control introductions of wildlife pathogens. I will examine host-pathogen interactions in different stages including disease emergence in a naïve amphibian community and during seasonal cycles of epidemic/endemic pathogen dynamics. I conclude by highlighting the opportunities to develop proactive measures to prevent Bsal from entering the United States and the New World.