Data from: Eco-evolutionary rescue promotes host-pathogen coexistence

Emerging infectious pathogens are responsible for some of the most severe
host mass-mortality events in wild populations. Yet, effective pathogen
control strategies are notoriously difficult to identify, in part because
quantifying and forecasting pathogen spread and disease dynamics is
challenging. Following an outbreak, hosts must cope with the presence of
the pathogen, leading to host-pathogen coexistence or extirpation. Despite
decades of research, little is known about host-pathogen coexistence
post-outbreak when low host abundances and cryptic species make these
interactions difficult to study. Using a novel disease-structured
N-mixture model, we evaluate empirical support for three host-pathogen
coexistence hypotheses (source-sink, eco-evolutionary rescue, and spatial
variation in pathogen transmission) in a Neotropical amphibian community
decimated by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in 2004. During 2010 –
2014, we surveyed amphibians in Parque Nacional G. D. Omar Torríjos
Herrera, Coclé Province, El Copé, Panama. We found that the primary driver
of host-pathogen coexistence was eco-evolutionary rescue, as evidenced by
similar amphibian survival and recruitment rates between infected and
uninfected hosts. Average apparent monthly survival rates of uninfected
and infected hosts were both close to 96%, and the expected number of
uninfected and infected hosts recruited (via immigration/reproduction) was
less than one host per disease state per 20 m site. The secondary driver
of host-pathogen coexistence was spatial variation in pathogen
transmission as we found that transmission was highest in areas of low
abundance but there was no support for the source-sink hypothesis. Our
results indicate that changes in the host community (i.e., through genetic
or species composition) can reduce the impacts of emerging infectious
disease post-outbreak. Our disease-structured N-mixture model represents a
valuable advancement for conservation managers trying to understand
underlying host-pathogen interactions and provides new opportunities to
study disease dynamics in remnant host populations decimated by virulent
pathogens.