Quantitative support for the benefits of proactive management for wildlife disease control

Finding effective pathogen mitigation strategies is one of the biggest challenges humans face today. In the context of wildlife, emerging infectious diseases have repeatedly caused widespread host morbidity and population declines of numerous taxa. In areas yet unaffected by a pathogen, a proactive management approach has the potential to minimize or prevent host mortality. However, we typically lack critical information on the disease dynamics in a novel host system, have limited empirical evidence on efficacy of management interventions, and lack validated predictive models. As such, quantitative support for identifying effective management interventions is largely absent, and the opportunity for proactive management is often missed. Here, we consider the potential invasion of the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, whose expected emergence in North America poses a severe threat to hundreds of salamander species in this global salamander biodiversity hotspot. We develop..., USGS Disclaimer
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Data Description
These data consist of the raw estimates and confidence values that were collected by expert elicitation from 35 experts to provide estimates for 158 model parameters of our develop multi-state occupancy model considering no management, 10 proactive actions and 10 reactive actions., , # Start early and stay the course: Proactive management outperforms reactive actions for wildlife disease control :

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To understand the impact of different management scenarios on host and pathogen persistence, we used a multistate dynamic occupancy model. We incorporated management actions (or lack of) via the estimated effects on parameters in the transition matrix. We considered four scenarios for the timing of management interventions on host and pathogen persistence: (i) no management scenario, (ii) proactive management scenario, (iii) reactive management scenario, and (iv) proactive + reactive management scenario. Expert elicitation was used to obtain estimates for the majority of the parameters given the limited empirical data available. The raw estimates and confidence level from the 4-point elicitation method are provided in the two data files provided here. Methodologies are further explained in the main text of the paper.

## Description of the Data and file structure
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