Disease, Climate, and Amphibians

NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 March 2008

RIDING THE WAVE: RECONCILING THE ROLES OF DISEASE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN
AMPHIBIAN DECLINES

2008. Public Library of Science Biology 6(3): 441-454

Karen R. Lips, Jay Diffendorfer, Joseph R. Mendelson III and Michael W. Sears

New study questions amphibian disease's link to climate change

Once introduced, diseases may spread quickly through new areas, infecting naive host
populations, such as has been documented in Ebola virus in African primates or rabies in
North American mammals. What drives the spread of the pathogenic fungus
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes chytridiomycosis, is of particular
concern because it has contributed to the global decline of amphibians. Spatiotemporal
patterns of the loss of upland amphibian populations in Central and South America were
modeled as a proxy for the arrival of Bd. Amphibian declines in Central and South America
were found to be best explained by Bd spreading through upland populations with four
separate introductions of Bd into South America identified. Climate change seriously
threatens biodiversity and influences endemic host–pathogen systems, but no evidence
that climate change has been driving outbreaks of chytridiomycosis, was found as has
been posited in the climate-linked epidemic hypothesis. These findings further strengthen
the spreading-pathogen hypothesis proposed for Central America, and identify new
evidence for similar patterns of decline in South American amphibians. These results will
inform management and research efforts related to Bd and other invasive species, as
effective conservation actions depend on correctly identifying essential threats to
biodiversity, and possible synergistic interactions.

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A gratis PDF of this article is available from the CNAH PDF Library at

http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp

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