Existing and emerging infectious diseases are among the most pressing global threats to biodiversity, food safety and human health. The complex interplay between host, pathogen and environment creates a challenge for conserving species, communities and ecosystem functions, while mediating the many known ecological and socio-economic negative effects of disease. Despite the clear ecological and evolutionary contexts of host–pathogen dynamics, approaches to managing wildlife disease remain predominantly reactionary, focusing on surveillance and some attempts at eradication. A few exceptional studies have heeded recent calls for better integration of ecological concepts in the study and management of wildlife disease; however, evolutionary concepts remain underused. Applied evolution consists of four principles: evolutionary history, genetic and phenotypic variation, selection and eco-evolutionary dynamics. In this article, we first update a classical framework for understanding wildlife disease to integrate better these principles. Within this framework, we explore the evolutionary implications of environment–disease interactions. Subsequently, we synthesize areas where applied evolution can be employed in wildlife disease management. Finally, we discuss some future directions and challenges. Here, we underscore that despite some evolutionary principles currently playing an important role in our understanding of disease in wild animals, considerable opportunities remain for fostering the practice of evolutionarily enlightened wildlife disease management.
In long-lived mammals, costs of reproduction may vary with age. The terminal investment hypothesis predicts greater reproductive effort as females approach the end of their life expectancy. We monitored 97 individually marked female Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra (L., 1758)) between 2007 and 2013 to determine how age-specific reproduction affected body mass and subsequent reproductive success. We captured and weighed females between April and August and monitored reproductive success from April to October through mother–kid associations. Reproductive success was strongly age-dependent and peaked at 70% for prime-aged females (4–7 years). Reproductive senescence began at 8 years, earlier than reported by other studies of ungulates. There was no clear evidence of reproductive costs in any age class. Reproductive success was very heterogeneous for old females, suggesting variability in the onset of senescence. Old females were less likely to reproduce in poor years despite being heavier than prime-aged females, suggesting reproductive restraint in late life rather than terminal investment. Female mass remained stable from May to August with no effect of lactation. Our results suggest that chamois reproductive strategy becomes increasingly conservative with age, resulting in no detectable costs of reproduction.
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