Amphibian species' traits, evolutionary history, and environment predict Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infection patterns, but not extinction risk

The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has emerged as a major agent of amphibian extinction, requiring conservation intervention for many susceptible species. Identifying susceptible species is challenging, but many aspects of species’ biology are predicted to influence the evolution of host resistance, tolerance, or avoidance strategies towards disease. In turn, we may expect species exhibiting these distinct strategies to differ in their ability to survive epizootic disease outbreaks. Here we test for phylogenetic and trait-based patterns of Bd infection risk and infection intensity among 302 amphibian species by compiling a global dataset of Bd infection surveys across 95 sites. We then use best-fit models that associate traits, taxonomy, and environment with Bd infection risk and intensity to predict host disease mitigation strategies (tolerance, resistance, avoidance) for 122 Neotropical amphibian species that experienced epizootic Bd outbreaks, and noted species’ ...