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48 results for “Tasmanian devils”
Invertebrate scavenger data from Tasmanian devil scavenging experiment 2023
We collected data to assess how disease-induced declines of an apex scavenger, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), affected carrion use by invertebrate scavengers. We manipulated devil access to pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) carcasses across a gradient of devil density from east to west Tasmania and measured carcass use by invertebrates. We used trap capture rates to estimate abundance of adult and larval carrion beetles (Ptomaphila lacrymosa) and blow fly larvae (Calliphoridae).
Data from: In vitro competition between two transmissible cancers, and potential implications for their host, the Tasmanian devil
<p>Since the emergence of a transmissible cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFT1), in the 1980s, wild Tasmanian devil populations have been in decline. In 2016, a second, independently evolved transmissible cancer (DFT2) was discovered raising concerns for survival of the host species. Here, we applied experimental and modelling frameworks to examine competition dynamics between the two transmissible cancers in vitro. Using representative cell lines for DFT1 and DFT2, we have found that in monoculture, DFT2 grows twice as fast as DFT1 but reaches lower maximum cell densities. Using co-cultures, we demonstrate that DFT2 outcompetes DFT1: the number of DFT1 cells decreasing over time, never reaching exponential growth. This phenomenon could not be replicated when cells were grown separated by a semi-permeable membrane, consistent with exertion of mechanical stress on DFT1 cells by DFT2. A logistic model and a Lotka-Volterra competition model were used to interrogate monoculture and co-culture growth curves respectively, suggesting DFT2 is a better competitor than DFT1, but also showing that competition outcomes might depend on the initial number of cells, at least in the laboratory. We provide theories how the in vitro results could be translated to observations in the wild and propose that these results may indicate that although DFT2 is currently in a smaller geographic area than DFT1, it could have the potential to outcompete DFT1. Further, we provide a framework for improving the parameterization of epidemiological models applied to these cancer lineages, which will inform future disease management.</p>
Too hot for the devil? Did climate change cause the mid-Holocene extinction of the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) from mainland Australia?
<p>The possible role of climate change in late Quaternary animal extinctions is hotly debated, yet few studies have investigated its direct effects on animal physiology to assess whether past climate changes might have had significant impacts on now-extinct species. Here we test whether climate change could have imposed physiological stress on the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) during the mid-Holocene, when the species went extinct on mainland Australia. Physiological values for the devil were quantified using mechanistic niche models of energy and water requirements for thermoregulation, and soil-moisture-based indices of plant stress from drought to indirectly represent food and water availability. The spatial pervasiveness, extremity, and frequency of physiological stresses were compared between a period of known climatic and presumed demographic stability (8000-6010 BP) and the extinction period (5000-3010 BP). We found no evidence of widespread negative effects of climate on physiological parameters for the devil on the mainland during its extinction window. This leaves cultural and demographic changes in the human population or competition from the dingo (Canis dingo) as the main contending hypotheses to explain mainland loss of the devil in the mid-Holocene.</p>
Too hot for the devil? Did climate change cause the mid-Holocene extinction of the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) from mainland Australia?
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Data from: In vitro competition between two transmissible cancers, and potential implications for their host, the Tasmanian devil
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Data from: Coevolution promotes the coexistence of Tasmanian devils and a fatal, transmissible cancer
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DNA metabarcoding reveals a broad dietary range for Tasmanian devils introduced to a naïve ecosystem
<p>Top carnivores are essential for maintaining ecosystem stability and biodiversity. Yet, carnivores are declining globally and current <em>in situ</em> threat mitigations cannot halt population declines. As such, translocations of carnivores to historic sites or those outside the species' native range are becoming increasingly common. As carnivores are likely to impact herbivore and small predator populations, understanding how carnivores interact within an ecosystem following translocation is necessary to inform potential remedial management and future translocations. Dietary analyses provide a preliminary assessment of the direct influence of translocated carnivores on a recipient ecosystem. We used a metabarcoding approach to quantify the diet of Tasmanian devils introduced to Maria Island, Tasmania, a site outside the species' native range. We extracted DNA from 96 scats and used a universal primer set targeting the vertebrate 12S rRNA gene to identify diet items. Tasmanian devils on Maria Island had an eclectic diet, with 63 consumed taxa identified. Cat DNA was detected in 14% of scats, providing the first instance of cats appearing as part of Tasmanian devil diets either via predation or scavenging. Short-tail shearwaters and little penguins were commonly consumed, corresponding with previous surveys showing sharp population declines in these species since the introduction of Tasmanian devils. Our results indicate that the introduction of carnivores to novel ecosystems can be very successful for the focal species, but that commonly consumed species should be closely monitored to identify any vulnerable species in need of remedial management.</p>
Data from: Do Tasmanian devil declines impact ecosystem function?
<p>Tasmanian eucalypt forests are among the most carbon-dense in the world, but projected changes in climate could destabilize this critical carbon sink. While the impact of abiotic factors on forest ecosystem carbon dynamics have received considerable attention, biotic factors, such as the input of animal scat, are less understood. Tasmanian devils (<em>Sarcophilus harrisii</em>)—an osteophageous scavenger that can ingest and solubilize nutrients locked in bone material—may subsidize plant and microbial productivity by concentrating bioavailable nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) in scat latrines. Dramatic declines in devil population densities are driven by the spread of a transmissible cancer and may have underappreciated consequences for soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and forest productivity by altering nutrient cycling. Here, we fuse experimental data and modeling to quantify and predict future changes to forest productivity and SOC under various climate and scat-quality futures. We find that devil scat significantly increases concentrations of nitrogen, ammonium, phosphorus, and phosphate in the soil, and shifts soil microbial communities towards those dominated by r-selected (e.g., fast-growing) phyla. Further, under simulated increases in temperature and precipitation, devil scat inputs are projected to increase above- and belowground net primary productivity and microbial biomass carbon through 2100. In contrast, when devil scat is replaced by lower-quality scat (e.g., from non-osteophageous scavengers and herbivores), forest carbon pools either increase more slowly or decline. Together, our results suggest biotic factors will interact with climate change to drive current and future carbon pool dynamics in Tasmanian forests.</p>
Data from: Sex bias in ability to cope with cancer: Tasmanian devils and facial tumour disease.
Knowledge of the ecological dynamics between hosts and pathogens during the initial stages of disease emergence is crucial to understanding the potential for evolution of new interspecific interactions. Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) populations have declined precipitously owing to infection by a transmissible cancer (devil facial tumour disease, DFTD) that emerged approximately 20 years ago. Since the emergence of DFTD, and as the disease spreads across Tasmania, the number of devil has dropped up to 90% across 80% of the species' distributional range. As a result, the disease is expected to act as a strong selective force on hosts to develop mechanisms of tolerance and/or resistance to the infection. We assessed the ability of infected devils to cope with infection, which translates into host tolerance to the cancer, by using the reaction norm of the individual body condition by tumour burden. We found that body condition of infected hosts is negatively affected by cancer progression. Males and females presented significant differences in their tolerance levels to infection, with males suffering declines of up to 25% of their body condition, in contrast to <5% in females. Sex-related differences in tolerance to cancer progression may select for changes in life history strategies of the host and could also alter the selective environment for the tumours.
Integrating multiple field measurements in a Bayesian parallel regression framework to estimate Tasmanian devil age
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DNA metabarcoding reveals a broad dietary range for Tasmanian devils introduced to a naïve ecosystem
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Data from: Sex bias in ability to cope with cancer: Tasmanian devils and facial tumour disease.
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Data from: Do Tasmanian devil declines impact ecosystem function?
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Temporal changes in Tasmanian devil genetic diversity at sites with and without supplementation
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Data from: Age-related variation in the trophic characteristics of a marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus harrisii
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Raw reads and metadata for 16S and 12S sequencing for microbiome and dietary analysis of Tasmanian devils
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Data from: Disease swamps molecular signatures of genetic-environmental associations to abiotic factors in Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) populations
Landscape genomics studies focus on identifying candidate genes under selection via spatial variation in abiotic environmental variables, but rarely by biotic factors such as disease. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is found only on the environmentally heterogeneous island of Tasmania and is threatened with extinction by a nearly 100% fatal, transmissible cancer, devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). Devils persist in regions of long-term infection despite epidemiological model predictions of species' extinction, suggesting possible adaptation to DFTD. Here, we test the extent to which spatial variation and genetic diversity are associated with the abiotic environment and/or DFTD. We employ genetic-environment association analyses using a RAD-capture panel including 6,886 SNPs from 3,286 individuals sampled pre- and post-disease arrival. Pre-disease, we find significant correlations of allele frequencies with environmental variables, including 365 unique loci linked to 71 genes, suggesting local adaptation to abiotic environment. The majority of candidate loci detected pre-DFTD were not detected post disease arrival. Several post-DFTD candidate loci were associated with disease prevalence and were in linkage disequilibrium with genes involved in tumor suppression and immune response. Loss of apparent signal of abiotic local adaptation post-disease suggests swamping by the strong selection resulting from the rapid onset of DFTD.
Data from: Trophic rewilding establishes a landscape of fear: Tasmanian devil introduction increases risk-sensitive foraging in a key prey species
Global declines of large carnivores have reduced the 'landscape of fear' that constrains the behaviour of other species. In recent years, active and passive trophic rewilding have potentially begun restoring these lost top-down controls. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) has declined severely due to a novel transmissible cancer. In response to extinction fears, devils were introduced to the devil-free Maria Island, where their abundance rapidly increased. We tested how this introduction influenced risk-sensitive foraging in the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), a major prey species for devils, using giving-up densities (GUDs). Before the introduction of devils, possum GUDs on Maria Island were indistinguishable from the long-diseased region of Tasmania, where devils have been rare since ~2000. Three years after devil introduction, GUDs were 64% higher on Maria Island than the control region, demonstrating that after an initial period of high mortality, possums quickly adopted risk-sensitive foraging behaviours. Devil activity across Maria Island was variable, leading to a heterogeneous landscape of fear and highlighting that top predators must be at functional densities to elicit behavioural responses from prey. Our study provides strong evidence that top predators modify the behaviour of prey by instilling fear, causing rapid ecological change following recoveries.
Data for: Infectious disease and sickness behaviour: tumour progression affects interaction patterns and social network structure in wild Tasmanian devils
<p>Infectious diseases, including transmissible cancers, can have a broad range of impacts on host behaviour, particularly in the latter stages of disease progression. However, the difficulty of early diagnoses makes the study of behavioural influences of disease in wild animals a challenging task. Tasmanian devils (<i>Sarcophilus harrisii</i>) are affected by a transmissible cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), in which tumours are externally visible as they progress. Using telemetry and mark-recapture data sets, we quantify the impacts of cancer progression on the behaviour of wild devils by assessing how interaction patterns within the social network of a population change with increasing tumour load. DFTD negatively influences devils' likelihood of interaction within their network, an effect which increases with increasing tumour load. Infected devils were more active within their network late in the mating season, a pattern with repercussions for DFTD transmission. Our study provides a rare opportunity to quantify and understand the behavioural feedbacks of disease in wildlife and how they may affect transmission and population dynamics in general.</p>
Data from: Density trends and demographic signals uncover the long-term impact of transmissible cancer in Tasmanian Devils
Monitoring the response of wild mammal populations to threatening processes is fundamental to effective conservation management. This is especially true for infectious diseases, which may have dynamic and therefore unpredictable interactions with their host. We investigate the long-term impact of a transmissible cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), on the endemic Tasmanian devil. We analyse trends in devil spotlight counts and density across the area impacted by the disease. We investigate the demographic parameters which might be driving these trends, and use spatial capture-recapture models to examine whether DFTD has affected home range size. We found that devils have declined by an average of 77% in areas affected by DFTD, and that there is a congruent trend of ongoing small decline in spotlight counts and density estimates. Despite this, devils have persisted to date within each of nine monitoring sites. One site is showing as yet unexplained small increases in density 8–10 years after the emergence of DFTD. We also found the prevalence of DFTD has not abated despite large declines in density and that diseased sites continue to be dominated by young devils. The long-term impact of the disease has been partially offset by increased fecundity in the form of precocial breeding in 1-year-old females, and more pouch young per female in diseased sites. The lower densities resulting from DFTD did not affect home range size. Synthesis and applications. Transmission of devil facial tumour disease continues despite large declines in devil density over multiple generations. Plasticity in life history traits has ameliorated the impact of devil facial tumour disease, however broad-scale trends in density show ongoing decline. In light of this, devil facial tumour disease and the impact of stochastic events on the reduced densities wrought by the disease, continue to threaten devils. In the absence of methods to manage disease in wild populations, we advocate managing the low population densities resulting from disease rather than disease per se.
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