Climate-driven dynamics of pathogenic microbial taxa in birds and bats

Abstract

Climate change can facilitate emergence of zoonotic and wildlife diseases, by changing environmental suitability for hosts, ectoparasites, and pathogens. However, the connections between climatic variables and diseases remains equivocal. We compiled a systematic database for the prevalence of 121 pathogenic microbial taxa in birds and bats, including 11,801 observations from over 450,000 individuals across Europe and surrounding regions. Using a space-for-time-substitution approach, we modelled the potential connection of climatic variables on the prevalence of different taxa. The prevalence of viral and in particular bacterial taxa in birds (376 species) and bats (39 species) positively correlated with temperature, while rainfall showed negative and positive correlations with the prevalence of bacterial and viral taxa, respectively. The results suggest that our warming biosphere is subject to an emerging threat by pathogenic microbial taxa.

Climatic factors and host species composition at hibernation sites drive the incidence of bat fungal disease

“…The emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases has increased globally during the past decades (Daszak 2000), and, given that climatic factors, such as rainfall and temperature, contribute significantly to disease dynamics and host abundance (Dabaro 2021, Aune et al 2021, Xu et al 2022, it is likely that climate change will further exacerbate the problem. Fungal diseases have emerged as a major threat to humans, wildlife, and plants (Fisher et al 2012(Fisher et al , 2016, with Candida auris often causing severe candidiasis in humans, and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a fungus responsible for the population crashes of several amphibian species globally (Bosch et al 2007, Garcia-Solache and Casadevall 2010, Casadevall et al 2019, Nnadi and Carter 2021.…”