Exploring the drivers and consequences of emerging infectious disease of wildlife

Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife have threatened host populations of diverse taxa in recent history, which is largely attributable to anthropogenic global change. In three data chapters, this dissertation examines the drivers of individual- to population-level variation in how host populations respond to novel and emerging pathogens. Each chapter explores these processes in bat populations of North America, predominantly the Northeast and Midwest regions of the United States, impacted by the emerging fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. In Chapter 2, I disentangle the effects of adaptive host traits and environmental influences in driving host population stabilization of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), finding that host-pathogen coexistence in this system is the product of their complex interaction. In Chapter 3, I characterize the range-wide variation in white-nose syndrome impacts on a federally endangered and poorly studied species, the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), as well as environmental and demographic determinants of its declines over epidemic time. In Chapter 4, I explore the role of individual variation in roosting microclimate selection of little brown bats in driving their infection severity, yielding important insights into the pathophysiology and environmental dependence of white-nose syndrome. Ultimately, this dissertation characterizes complex drivers of variation in host responses to emerging and invading pathogens, yielding insights essential to the successful mitigation of their impacts.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Sciences

Department dc:contributor.department

Biological Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Grimaudo, Alexander Thomas

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Langwig, Kate Elizabeth

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Duggal, Nisha K.
• Hawley, Dana Michelle
• McGlothlin, Joel W.

• disease ecology
• emerging infectious disease
• host-pathogen coevolution

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:39775

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/118655