Fig. 1

Our framework for fire’s potential effects on wildlife disease, detailing a series of hypothetical and proven links between factors, as evidenced by previously published research (from 2000 to 2020) on relationships between fire and wildlife disease. We provide a variety of mechanisms by which fire could affect either exposure or susceptibility to infection according to a priori understanding of fire and disease systems, including positive, negative, and neutral effects. Red arrows denote positive, exacerbating, or increasing relationships; blue arrows denote negative, inhibitory, or decreasing relationships. Purple arrows denote relationships that could be either positive or negative depending on the situation. Solid lines denote mechanisms that have been demonstrated in the literature; dotted lines are strongly expected given links in non-fire-related systems but have not yet been shown to link fire with downstream disease consequences. Relationships are displayed in a pairwise fashion, so complex links must be followed along the different link colors. For example, because resources and immunity are positively correlated (red line), habitat destruction (which depletes resources; blue line) is expected to decrease immunity. Image created with BioRender.com