Amphibians being killed off due to fungus

[Raph's Girl]

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/200...fate-to-frogs/

At the end of a report on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” program over the weekend, the host, Debbie Elliot, asked Dr. Joe Mendelson, an organizer of a project called “Amphibian Ark,” what it meant to humanity that roughly one-third of the planet’s 6,000 species of frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and worm-like caecilians may now be on the brink of extinction because of a disease spreading like wildfire among them.

“Realize the precedent that amphibians are setting here,” Dr. Mendelson said. “A disease that we did not know existed, and we don’t from where it came, and we don’t know how it gets around, is working its way across an entire vertebrate class, eliminating species at an incredibly accelerated pace — and we can’t stop it.”
AudioHow bad is it? (mp3) Dr. Joe Mendelson of Zoo Atlanta and an organizer of the Amphibian Ark project explains to National Public Radio how bad things could become for amphibians facing a deadly fungus.

The none-too-subtle implication, of course, was that there but for the grace of dumb luck, and the right viral payload, could well go the human race — and if for no other reason than that, we ought to pay the issue some attention.

But the decimation of amphibians — hitting mainly frogs so far — by a near-invisible fungus that has spread around the world over the last decade has been enough to mobilize scientists from all over to try to rescue what species they can. Researchers gathered in Atlanta late last week to marshal resources and draw up a systematic plan.

The toll so far is striking. Some 170 species of frogs have become extinct in the past decade, whether from the fungus or other causes, and another 1,900 are imminently threatened, according to The Associated Press.

Should those 1,900 disappear, it would be an extinction event on the scale of “what happened at the end of the ice ages,” Mr. Mendelson told N.P.R.

Amphibian Ark is asking zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums the world over to choose a threatened species, take in at least 500 frogs from that species, and harbor them in their institutions until scientists can find an answer for the killer disease — the chytrid fungus — if that’s possible.

The group plans a fundraising campaign next year to secure the $400 million to $500 million it estimates will be needed to complete the project. (The group has a rough Web site set up with some founding mission documents and PowerPoint presentations available.)

Just where the fungus came from is a bit of a mystery, but the reigning theory at the moment points to the African clawed frog, which carries the fungus on its skin but is immune to its effects.
Dr. Joe MendelsonDr. Joe Mendelson and friend. (Photo: Erik S. Lesser/The New York Times)

That type of frog has been distributed across the globe in recent decades because (here’s an irony) it is evidently quite useful in biology research — and also because it was handy for performing human pregnancy tests in the 1940s (much the way rabbits were used in earlier eras). Injecting the frogs with the urine of a pregnant woman induces the frog to produce eggs.

In any case, researchers theorize that the wide distribution and handling of the African clawed frog may, over time, have introduced the fungus into many environments where it was unknown before and where the local frogs are not immune to its ravages.

From the A.P.:

The fungus works like a parasite that makes it difficult for the frogs to use their pores, quickly causing them to die of dehydration. It has been linked to the extinction of amphibians from Australia to Costa Rica.

Last month, Japan reported its first cases of frog deaths from the fungus, prompting research groups to declare an emergency in the country. On the Caribbean island of Dominica, the fungus has almost wiped out the mountain chicken, a frog species considered an island delicacy.

At Yosemite National Park in California, the mountain yellow-legged frog is close to extinction. … The growing quiet along the park’s lakes is evident as many of the frogs are dying off.

Of course, Mr. Mendelson of Amphibian Ark told Ms. Elliott of N.P.R. that the fungus cannot account for the entirety of the shrinking amphibian populations across the globe. Pollution, habitat depletion, climate change and other factors are contributing to the looming extinctions as well.

“There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that amphibians are suffering what we call death from a thousand cuts,” he said.

Poor Kermie....

I hope they find the cure for this fungus....and maybe even the cure for the disease killing off Dolphins....and the skin disease killing off the Tazmanian devils....