Abstract
Infectious disease, especially virulent infectious disease, is commonly regarded as a cause of fluctuation or decline in biological populations. However, it is not generally considered as a primary factor in causing the actual endangerment or extinction of species. We review here the known historical examples in which disease has, or has been assumed to have had, a major deleterious impact on animal species, including extinction, and highlight some recent cases in which disease is the chief suspect in causing the outright endangerment of particular species. We conclude that the role of disease in historical extinctions at the population or species level may have been underestimated. Recent methodological breakthroughs may lead to a better understanding of the past and present roles of infectious disease in influencing population fitness and other parameters.
Highlights
Lethal epi- or panzootics are obvious risk factors that can lead to population uctuation or decline in particular circumstances, infectious diseases are seldom considered as potential drivers of extirpation or extinction—that is, of the complete loss of all populations or subunits comprising a given biological species
In conservation biology, infectious disease is usually regarded as having only a marginal or contributory in uence on extinction, except perhaps in unusual circumstances (e.g., [1,2,3,4]). In their examination of 223 instances of critically endangered species listed by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as allegedly threatened by infectious disease, Smith et al [4] found that in the overwhelming majority of cases there was no conclusive evidence to support infectious disease as a contributing threat
Host-pathogen interactions have been a subject of interest in conservation biology for some time, the possibility that disease might drive extinctions in certain contexts has rarely been considered. is is partly due to a general lack of knowledge concerning wildlife pathogens and their microbiology, but it stems from a lack of wellresearched and unequivocal examples of disease-induced loss of naturally occurring populations or species
Summary
Lethal epi- or panzootics are obvious risk factors that can lead to population uctuation or decline in particular circumstances, infectious diseases are seldom considered as potential drivers of extirpation or extinction—that is, of the complete loss of all populations or subunits comprising a given biological species. In conservation biology, infectious disease is usually regarded as having only a marginal or contributory in uence on extinction, except perhaps in unusual circumstances (e.g., [1,2,3,4]) In their examination of 223 instances of critically endangered species listed by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as allegedly threatened by infectious disease, Smith et al [4] found that in the overwhelming majority of cases there was no conclusive evidence to support infectious disease as a contributing threat. Recent advances in molecular biology and microbiology have permitted the detection and identi cation of hosts of novel microorganisms, many of which are pathogenic, and the technology needed to assess threat levels is becoming increasingly available
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