What is it about?
Chytridiomycosis is a disease of amphibians caused by a fungus which has led to amphibian declines and extinctions around the world. This paper is the first published report of a death resulting rom chytridiomycosis in a threatened California red-legged frog.
Featured Image
Photo by Danny Oates on Unsplash
Why is it important?
It was once thought that California red-legged frogs were resistant to chytridiomycosis because of a lack of evidence to the contrary. The results of this study are important because it shows that disease outcomes can be highly variable within this species, which directly affects management and reintroduction efforts.
Perspectives
This paper was important to publish rapidly because knowing that California red-legged frogs can be lethally susceptible to this disease will directly affect science and management. I hope that scientists and managers will take biosecurity more seriously when working with this and other species, as it shows that we are still discovering new aspects of this disease all the time and it is best to err on the side of caution when it comes to biosecurity, such as when translocating frogs or cleaning equipment.
Dr. Andrea J. Adams
University of California Santa Barbara
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Chytridiomycosis-induced mortality in a threatened anuran, PLoS ONE, November 2020, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241119.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
