Identifying Common Decision Problem Elements for the Management of Emerging Fungal Diseases of Wildlife

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of wildlife have characteristics that make them difficult to manage, leading to reactive and often ineffective management strategies. Currently, two fungal pathogens, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), are causing declines in novel host species. To improve the application of management strategies addressing the risk of these pathogens to North American wildlife, we queried wildlife managers about their concerns regarding managing populations of bats and amphibians potentially impacted by Pd and Bsal. Using these responses, we identified aspects of each decision problem that were shared across pathogens, regions and agencies – and found similarities in decision-problem elements for disease management. Reframing management problems as decisions can enable managers to identify similarities across EIDs, i.e. uncertainties within management actions, and improve reactive responses if proactive management is not possible. Such an approach recognizes context-specific constraints and identifies relevant uncertainties that must be reduced in developing a response.

Keywords:

• Bsal
• emerging infections disease
• fungal pathogens
• objectives
• structured decision making
• tradeoffs
• white-nose syndrome
• wildlife management

Acknowledgements

We are incredibly appreciative to the wildlife managers and decision-makers for offering their professional opinions concerning managing wildlife populations and emerging disease. We would also like to thank Katherine L. D. Richgels (USGS National Wildlife Health Center) and Brian Reichert (USGS Fort Collins Science Center) for providing data to create Figure 1A and B, as well as the many reviewers who added valuable comments to improve this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ecosystem mission area of the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreement #4500098350. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. This is contribution number 693 of the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) of the USGS.