Quantifying 25 years of disease‐caused declines in Tasmanian devil populations: host density drives spatial pathogen spread

[1 ]School of Natural Sciences University of Tasmania Private Bag 55 Hobart TAS7001Australia

[2 ]Vertebrate Pest Research UnitNSW Department of Primary Industries 1447 Forest Road Orange NSW2800Australia

[3 ]Environmental Futures Research Institute and School of Environment and Science Griffith University Nathan Qld4111Australia

[4 ]CANECEV – Centre de Recherches Ecologiques et Evolutives sur le cancer (CREEC) Montpellier34090France

[5 ]School of Biological Sciences Washington State University Pullman WA99164‐4236USA

[6 ]Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research 123 Brown Street Heidelberg Vic.3084Australia

[7 ]School of BioSciences The University of Melbourne Parkville Vic.3010Australia

[8 ]Department of Microbiology and Immunology Montana State University Bozeman MT59717USA

[9 ]ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), University of Tasmania, Hobart Tasmania7001Australia

[10 ]Game Services Tasmania Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and EnvironmentTAS PO Box 44 Hobart7001Australia