Demographic buffering and compensatory recruitment promotes the persistence of disease in a wildlife population

Demographic buffering allows populations to persist by compensating for fluctuations in vital rates, including disease‐induced mortality. Using long‐term data on a badger ( Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) population naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis , we built an integrated population model to quantify impacts of disease, density and environmental drivers on survival and recruitment. Badgers exhibit a slow life‐history strategy, having...