Data from: Infection dynamics, dispersal, and adaptation: understanding the lack of recovery in a remnant frog population following a disease outbreak

Emerging infectious diseases can cause dramatic declines in wildlife
populations. Sometimes these declines are followed by recovery, but many
populations do not recover. Studying differential recovery patterns may
yield important information for managing disease-afflicted populations and
facilitating population recoveries. In the late1980s, a chytridiomycosis
outbreak caused multiple frog species in Australia's Wet Tropics to
decline. Populations of some species (e.g., Litoria nannotis) subsequently
recovered, while others (e.g., Litoria dayi) did not. We examined the
population genetics and current infection status of L. dayi, to test
several hypotheses regarding the failure of its populations to recover: 1)
a lack of individual dispersal abilities has prevented recolonization of
previously occupied locations, 2) a loss of genetic variation has resulted
in limited adaptive potential, and 3) L. dayi is currently adapting to
chytridiomycosis. We found moderate to hig h levels of gene flow and
diversity (Fst range: <0.01–0.15; minor allele frequency:
0.192–0.245), which were similar to previously published levels for
recovered L. nannotis populations. This suggests that dispersal ability
and genetic diversity do not limit the ability of L dayi to recolonize
upland sites. Further, infection intensity and prevalence increased with
elevation, suggesting that chytridiomycosis is still limiting the
elevational range of L. dayi. Outlier tests comparing infected and
uninfected individuals consistently identified 18 markers as putatively
under selection, and several of those markers matched genes that were
previously implicated in infection. This suggests that L. dayi has genetic
variation for genes that affect infection dynamics and may be undergoing
adaptation.