The Experts below are selected from a list of 684 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Stefan Lötters - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Exploring the Distribution of the Spreading Lethal Salamander Chytrid Fungus in Its Invasive Range in Europe - A Macroecological Approach.
PloS one, 2016Co-Authors: Stephan Feldmeier, Lukas Schefczyk, Norman Wagner, Günther Heinemann, Michael Veith, Stefan LöttersAbstract:The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a dangerous pathogen to Salamanders and Newts. Apparently native to Asia, it has recently been detected in Western Europe where it is expected to spread and to have dramatic effects on naive hosts. Since 2010, Bsal has led to some catastrophic population declines of urodeles in the Netherlands and Belgium. More recently, it has been discovered in additional, more distant sites including sites in Germany. With the purpose to contribute to a better understanding of Bsal, we modelled its potential distribution in its invasive European range to gain insights about the factors driving this distribution. We computed Bsal Maxent models for two predictor sets, which represent different temporal resolutions, using three different background extents to account for different invasion stage scenarios. Beside ‘classical’ bioclimate, we employed weather data, which allowed us to emphasize predictors in accordance with the known pathogen’s biology. The most important predictors as well as spatial predictions varied between invasion scenarios and predictor sets. The most reasonable model was based on weather data and the scenario of a recent pathogen introduction. It identified temperature predictors, which represent optimal growing conditions and heat limiting conditions, as the most explaining drivers of the current distribution. This model also predicted large areas in the study region as suitable for Bsal. The other models predicted considerably less, but shared some areas which we interpreted as most likely high risk zones. Our results indicate that growth relevant temperatures measured under laboratory conditions might also be relevant on a macroecological scale, if predictors with a high temporal resolution and relevance are used. Additionally, the conditions in our study area support the possibility of a further Bsal spread, especially when considering that our models might tend to underestimate the potential distribution of Bsal.
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Exploring the Distribution of the Spreading Lethal Salamander Chytrid Fungus in Its Invasive Range in Europe – A Macroecological Approach
2016Co-Authors: Stephan Feldmeier, Lukas Schefczyk, Norman Wagner, Günther Heinemann, Michael Veith, Stefan LöttersAbstract:The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a dangerous pathogen to Salamanders and Newts. Apparently native to Asia, it has recently been detected in Western Europe where it is expected to spread and to have dramatic effects on naïve hosts. Since 2010, Bsal has led to some catastrophic population declines of urodeles in the Netherlands and Belgium. More recently, it has been discovered in additional, more distant sites including sites in Germany. With the purpose to contribute to a better understanding of Bsal, we modelled its potential distribution in its invasive European range to gain insights about the factors driving this distribution. We computed Bsal Maxent models for two predictor sets, which represent different temporal resolutions, using three different background extents to account for different invasion stage scenarios. Beside ‘classical’ bioclimate, we employed weather data, which allowed us to emphasize predictors in accordance with the known pathogen’s biology. The most important predictors as well as spatial predictions varied between invasion scenarios and predictor sets. The most reasonable model was based on weather data and the scenario of a recent pathogen introduction. It identified temperature predictors, which represent optimal growing conditions and heat limiting conditions, as the most explaining drivers of the current distribution. This model also predicted large areas in the study region as suitable for Bsal. The other models predicted considerably less, but shared some areas which we interpreted as most likely high risk zones. Our results indicate that growth relevant temperatures measured under laboratory conditions might also be relevant on a macroecological scale, if predictors with a high temporal resolution and relevance are used. Additionally, the conditions in our study area support the possibility of a further Bsal spread, especially when considering that our models might tend to underestimate the potential distribution of Bsal.
Stephan Feldmeier - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Exploring the Distribution of the Spreading Lethal Salamander Chytrid Fungus in Its Invasive Range in Europe - A Macroecological Approach.
PloS one, 2016Co-Authors: Stephan Feldmeier, Lukas Schefczyk, Norman Wagner, Günther Heinemann, Michael Veith, Stefan LöttersAbstract:The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a dangerous pathogen to Salamanders and Newts. Apparently native to Asia, it has recently been detected in Western Europe where it is expected to spread and to have dramatic effects on naive hosts. Since 2010, Bsal has led to some catastrophic population declines of urodeles in the Netherlands and Belgium. More recently, it has been discovered in additional, more distant sites including sites in Germany. With the purpose to contribute to a better understanding of Bsal, we modelled its potential distribution in its invasive European range to gain insights about the factors driving this distribution. We computed Bsal Maxent models for two predictor sets, which represent different temporal resolutions, using three different background extents to account for different invasion stage scenarios. Beside ‘classical’ bioclimate, we employed weather data, which allowed us to emphasize predictors in accordance with the known pathogen’s biology. The most important predictors as well as spatial predictions varied between invasion scenarios and predictor sets. The most reasonable model was based on weather data and the scenario of a recent pathogen introduction. It identified temperature predictors, which represent optimal growing conditions and heat limiting conditions, as the most explaining drivers of the current distribution. This model also predicted large areas in the study region as suitable for Bsal. The other models predicted considerably less, but shared some areas which we interpreted as most likely high risk zones. Our results indicate that growth relevant temperatures measured under laboratory conditions might also be relevant on a macroecological scale, if predictors with a high temporal resolution and relevance are used. Additionally, the conditions in our study area support the possibility of a further Bsal spread, especially when considering that our models might tend to underestimate the potential distribution of Bsal.
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Exploring the Distribution of the Spreading Lethal Salamander Chytrid Fungus in Its Invasive Range in Europe – A Macroecological Approach
2016Co-Authors: Stephan Feldmeier, Lukas Schefczyk, Norman Wagner, Günther Heinemann, Michael Veith, Stefan LöttersAbstract:The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a dangerous pathogen to Salamanders and Newts. Apparently native to Asia, it has recently been detected in Western Europe where it is expected to spread and to have dramatic effects on naïve hosts. Since 2010, Bsal has led to some catastrophic population declines of urodeles in the Netherlands and Belgium. More recently, it has been discovered in additional, more distant sites including sites in Germany. With the purpose to contribute to a better understanding of Bsal, we modelled its potential distribution in its invasive European range to gain insights about the factors driving this distribution. We computed Bsal Maxent models for two predictor sets, which represent different temporal resolutions, using three different background extents to account for different invasion stage scenarios. Beside ‘classical’ bioclimate, we employed weather data, which allowed us to emphasize predictors in accordance with the known pathogen’s biology. The most important predictors as well as spatial predictions varied between invasion scenarios and predictor sets. The most reasonable model was based on weather data and the scenario of a recent pathogen introduction. It identified temperature predictors, which represent optimal growing conditions and heat limiting conditions, as the most explaining drivers of the current distribution. This model also predicted large areas in the study region as suitable for Bsal. The other models predicted considerably less, but shared some areas which we interpreted as most likely high risk zones. Our results indicate that growth relevant temperatures measured under laboratory conditions might also be relevant on a macroecological scale, if predictors with a high temporal resolution and relevance are used. Additionally, the conditions in our study area support the possibility of a further Bsal spread, especially when considering that our models might tend to underestimate the potential distribution of Bsal.
Stevan J. Arnold - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Multiple paternity in a natural population of a salamander with long-term sperm storage
Molecular ecology, 2005Co-Authors: Erika M. Adams, Adam Jones, Stevan J. ArnoldAbstract:Sperm competition appears to be an important aspect of any mating system in which individual female organisms mate with multiple males and store sperm. Postcopulatory sexual selection may be particularly important in species that store sperm throughout long breeding seasons, because the lengthy storage period may permit extensive interactions among rival sperm. Few studies have addressed the potential for sperm competition in species exhibiting prolonged sperm storage. We used microsatellite markers to examine offspring paternity in field-collected clutches of the Ocoee salamander (Desmognathus ocoee), a species in which female organisms store sperm for up to 9 months prior to fertilization. We found that 96% of clutches were sired by multiple males, but that the majority of females used sperm from only two or three males to fertilize their eggs. The high rate of multiple mating by females suggests that sperm competition is an important aspect of this mating system. Comparison of our data with those of other parentage studies in Salamanders and Newts reveals that multiple mating may be common in urodele amphibians. Nevertheless, the number of males siring offspring per clutch in D. ocoee did not differ appreciably from that in other species of urodeles with shorter storage periods.
Monika Balogová - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Recent Findings of Potentially Lethal Salamander Fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans.
Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2019Co-Authors: David Lastra González, Krzysztof Kolenda, Anna Najbar, Vojtech Baláž, Milič Solský, Barbora Thumsová, Bartłomiej Najbar, Matej Kautman, Petr Chajma, Monika BalogováAbstract:: The distribution of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans continues to expand in Europe. During 2014-2018, we collected 1,135 samples from Salamanders and Newts in 6 countries in Europe. We identified 5 cases of B. salamandrivorans in a wild population in Spain but none in central Europe or the Balkan Peninsula.
Paul W Sherman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Maximum longevities of chemically protected and non-protected fishes, reptiles, and amphibians support evolutionary hypotheses of aging.
Mechanisms of ageing and development, 2005Co-Authors: M Andres Blanco, Paul W ShermanAbstract:Evolutionary hypotheses of aging predict that species with low rates of mortality from extrinsic sources, such as predation, should senesce more slowly and have longer maximum life spans than related species with higher rates of extrinsic mortality. We tested this prediction by synthesizing information on maximum body lengths and life spans in captivity of 1193 species of chemically protected (venomous or poisonous) and non-chemically protected fishes, snakes, caudatans (Salamanders and Newts), and anurans (frogs and toads). In every phylogenetic group maximum longevity was positively correlated with body size and, when size was controlled for statistically, chemically protected species and genera usually had longer maximum life spans than non-protected species. These results reemphasize the importance of life history traits, particularly protection from predation, in the evolution of senescence.
