Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) reduce host population sizes, cause extinction, disassemble communities, and have indirect negative effects on human well-being. Fungal EIDs have reduced population abundances in amphibians and bats across many species over large areas. The recent emergence of snake fungal disease (SFD) may have caused declines in some snake populations in the Eastern United States (EUS), which is home to a phylogenetically and ecologically diverse assembly of 98 taxa. SFD has been documented in only 23 naturally occuring species, although this is likely an underestimate of the number of susceptible taxa. Using several novel methods, including artificial neural networks, we combine phylogenetic and trait-based community estimates from all taxa in this region to show that SFD hosts are both phylogenetically and ecologically randomly dispersed. This might indicate that other species of snakes in the EUS could be currently infected or susceptible to SFD. Our models also indicate that information about key traits that enhance susceptiblity is lacking. Surveillance should consider that all snake species and habitats likely harbor this pathogen.

中文翻译：

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宿主对蛇真菌病的易感性在系统发育和功能特征空间中高度分散。

新兴传染病（EID）减少了寄主的规模，导致灭绝，破坏了社区，并对人类的福祉产生了间接的负面影响。真菌EID在大面积的许多物种中减少了两栖动物和蝙蝠的种群数量。最近出现的蛇真菌病（SFD）可能已导致美国东部（EUS）的某些蛇种群数量下降，该地区是系统上和生态上多样化的98种分类单元的所在地。尽管只有23种自然发生的物种有SFD记录，但是这很可能低估了易感类群的数量。使用几种新方法，包括人工神经网络，我们结合了该地区所有分类单元的系统发育和基于特征的社区估计，以显示SFD宿主在系统发育和生态上都是随机分散的。这可能表明EUS中的其他蛇种目前可能已感染或易患SFD。我们的模型还表明，缺乏有关增强易感性的关键性状的信息。监视应考虑到所有蛇种和栖息地都可能含有这种病原体。