Abstract
Ecologists have often suggested that the presence of pathogens that differentially affect interacting species may affect the outcome of interactions, yet few experimental studies have documented pathogen-mediated interactions using a natural host–parasite system. We studied the effects of a pathogenic water mold, Saprolegnia ferax, on competitive interactions between the Cascades frog Rana cascadae and the Pacific treefrog Hyla regilla. Previous studies have shown that outbreaks of Saprolegnia infection in the Cascade mountains of Oregon, USA, result in high embryonic mortality for Rana but not for Hyla. Thus, we examined how infections of Saprolegnia during amphibian embryonic development could influence larval recruitment and competitive interactions between larval Rana and Hyla. We manipulated the presence of Saprolegnia and embryonic Hyla and Rana in replicated artificial ponds and determined mean survivorship to hatching per pool from daily observations during embryonic development. Pools were then f...
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