Journal article
Declining amphibians might be evolving increased reproductive effort in the face of devastating disease
Evolution, Vol.75(10), pp.2555-2567
30/09/2021
PMID: 34383313
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Abstract
The devastating infectious disease chytridiomycosis has caused declines of amphibians across the globe, yet some populations are persisting and even recovering. One understudied effect of wildlife disease is changes in reproductive effort. Here, we aimed to understand if the disease has plastic effects on reproduction and if reproductive effort could evolve with disease endemism. We compared the effects of experimental pathogen exposure (trait plasticity) and population-level disease history (evolution in trait baseline) on reproductive effort using gametogenesis as a proxy in the declining and endangered frog Litoria verreauxii alpina. We found that unexposed males from disease-endemic populations had higher reproductive effort, which is consistent with an evolutionary response to chytridiomycosis. We also found evidence of trait plasticity, where males and females were affected differently by infection: pathogen exposed males had higher reproductive effort (larger testes), whereas females had reduced reproductive effort (smaller and fewer developed eggs) regardless of the population of origin. Infectious diseases can cause plastic changes in the reproductive effort at an individual level, and population-level disease exposure can result in changes to baseline reproductive effort; therefore, individual- and population-level effects of disease should be considered when designing management and conservation programs for threatened and declining species.
Details
- Title
- Declining amphibians might be evolving increased reproductive effort in the face of devastating disease
- Creators
- Laura A Brannelly - University of MelbourneRebecca J Webb - James Cook UniversityZhixuan Jiang - University of MelbourneLee Berger - University of MelbourneLee F Skerratt - University of MelbourneLaura F Grogan - Griffith University
- Publication Details
- Evolution, Vol.75(10), pp.2555-2567
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Grant note
- This work was funded by Australian Research Council grant DE180101395 and FT190100462. The live animal work was funded by the Morris Animal Foundation, US Fish and Wildlife Service—Wildlife Without Borders program, Australian Research Council grants FT100100375, LP110200240, and DP120100811, Taronga Conservation Science Initiative, and the NSW office of environment and Heritage.
- Identifiers
- 991012961198102368
- Copyright
- © 2021 The Authors. Evolution © 2021 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
- Academic Unit
- Forest Research Centre; School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Science; Faculty of Science and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article