Meeting Abstract
Many animals, both endothermic and ectothermic, regulate their body temperature to cope with environmental stressors, including infection. Fever is a common host response to infectious or inflammatory agents. Ectothermic animals that exhibit a febrile response usually do so through behavioral thermoregulation. A febrile response by way of behavioral thermoregulation has the potential to be especially effective when the pathogen in question is sensitive to high temperatures. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen implicated in worldwide amphibian declines, dies when kept at constant temperatures above 28° C. In this study we aim to determine the desired temperatures of Anaxyrus terrestris and the degree of variability in temperature among individuals by observing animals in thermal gradient chambers. We then will determine how the thermal preferences of individuals change after exposure to Bd. Lastly, we will determine whether changes in behavioral preference reduce actual Bd abundance on toads relative to a scenario where toads are kept at their preferred temperature in the absence of Bd and cannot thermoregulate.
