The importance of peripheral populations in the face of novel environmental change

Anthropogenically driven environmental change has imposed substantial threats on biodiversity, including the emergence of infectious diseases that have resulted in declines of wildlife globally. In response to pathogen invasion, maintaining diversity within host populations across heterogenous environments is essential to facilitating species persistence. White-nose syndrome is an emerging fungal pathogen that has caused mass mortalities of hibernating bats across North America. However, in the Northeast, peripheral island populations of the Endangered northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) appear to be persisting despite infection while mainland populations in the core of the species range have experienced sharp declines. Thus, this study investigated host and environmental factors that may contribute to divergent population responses. We compared patterns of pathogen exposure and infection intensity between populations and documented the environmental conditions and host activity pa..., , , # The importance of peripheral populations in the face of novel environmental change [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ffbg79d4n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ffbg79d4n) ## Description of the data and file structure We conducted a comparative study of northern myotis populations in the United States to explore the mechanisms that may be supporting species survival following the arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS). Here, the core of the species range is represented by mainland populations and the periphery is represented by the coastal island populations of Long Island, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts. First, we presented mainland colony declines from hibernacula across the species range and we compared capture probabilities of island and mainland bats to assess the severity of population decline in post-WNS years. We quantified seasonal patterns of *Pseudogymnoascus destructans* prevalence and infection intensity between the islands and mainland. We compar...人为驱动的环境变化已对生物多样性造成严重威胁，其中包括全球范围内引发野生动物种群衰减的新发传染病。面对病原体入侵，在异质环境中维持宿主种群的遗传多样性是促进物种存续的关键所在。白鼻综合征（White-nose syndrome）是一种新兴真菌病原体，已导致北美地区冬眠蝙蝠出现大规模死亡。然而在东北部区域，濒危北棕鼠耳蝠（Myotis septentrionalis）的外围岛屿种群即便感染病原体仍能存续，而该物种分布核心区的大陆种群却出现了大幅衰减。为此，本研究针对可能导致种群响应出现分化的宿主与环境因素展开了调查。我们对比了不同种群间的病原体暴露与感染强度模式，并记录了环境条件与宿主活动模式等相关内容（原文未完整给出） # 面对新型环境变化时外围种群的重要性 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ffbg79d4n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ffbg79d4n) ## 数据及文件结构描述 我们针对美国境内的北棕鼠耳蝠种群开展对比研究，旨在探究白鼻综合征（WNS）入侵后支撑物种存续的潜在机制。本研究中，物种分布核心区以大陆种群为代表，外围分布区则以纽约州长岛、马萨诸塞州玛莎葡萄园岛与楠塔基特岛的沿海岛屿种群为代表。首先，我们梳理了全物种分布范围内各冬眠洞穴的大陆种群衰减情况，并对比了岛屿与大陆蝙蝠的捕获概率，以评估白鼻综合征暴发后种群衰减的严重程度。我们定量分析了破坏性假裸囊菌（Pseudogymnoascus destructans）在岛屿与大陆种群间的感染率与感染强度的季节动态模式。我们对比了……（原文未完整给出）