Ranavirus ecology: From individual infections to population epidemiology to community impacts

Abstract

While ranaviruses were initially a focus of scientific study primarily among virologists, the continued and growing interest in them stems largely from their impacts on host populations and communities. Here, we present an overview of what is known of ranavirus ecology in individual hosts (e.g., the many factors that influence the likelihood and outcome of ranavirus infections), in host populations and communities (e.g., transmission, persistence, and the causes of such varied outcomes of epidemics), and across landscapes, with a focus on how processes or outcomes at one level might scale up to the next level. Throughout the chapter, we also highlight important unanswered questions and research challenges and opportunities.