FRA Press: Racing a deadly fungus, scientists bag hundreds of frogs

[wes]

<font color="0000ff">While not newt-specific, the following is relevant to a situation facing all amphibians .... apparently world-wide.</font>

<u><font color="000000">INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE</font></u> (Paris, France) 06 June 06 Racing a deadly fungus, scientists bag hundreds of frogs (Brenda Goodman, The New York Times)
Atlanta: Of all the things that airport security screeners have discovered as they rifle through travelers' luggage, the suitcases full of frogs probably were a first. In a race to save amphibians threatened by an encroaching, lethal fungus, two conservationists from Atlanta recently packed their carry-ons with frogs rescued from a Central American rain forest - squeezing about 150 to a suitcase - and asked the airline for permission to travel with them in the cabin of the plane.
The frogs, swaddled in damp moss in vented plastic deli containers large enough for a small fruit salad, are perhaps the last of their kind, collected from a pristine national park that fills the bowl of El Valle, an inactive volcano in Panama.
In many parts of the world, loss of habitat is thought to be the biggest reason for amphibian extinctions, but the frogs in El Valle are facing a more insidious threat. A waterborne form of chytrid fungus is moving down the spine of the mountain range where they live.
Scientists are not exactly sure how the fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, kills, but it seems to break down a protein in a frog's skin, called keratin, that may be important for respiration. The skin of an infected animal sloughs off in layers, and within two weeks the animal dies.
The chytrid fungus is thought to play a large role in the worldwide disappearance of amphibians, a trend that is terrifying experts, who say it would be the first loss of an entire taxonomic class since the dinosaurs.
Joseph Mendelson, curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta, who has discovered about 50 new species of frogs only to watch half of them become extinct in the last 15 years from the fungus, was tired of watching helplessly as salamanders, newts and frogs were eradicated from one patch of forest after another.
With the help of new data published Feb. 28 in <u>The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</u>} by Karen Lips, a zoologist at Southern Illinois University who spent years tracking the chytrid fungus, scientists were able to predict where it would next strike.
"When you can make predictions with respect to catastrophic population declines and extinctions, we all agreed you have a moral and ethical responsibility to do something about it," Mendelson said.
Lips called Mendelson and Ron Gagliardo, the amphibian conservation coordinator at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, because the men have a reputation for being especially good at catching and taking care of frogs, and proposed an idea that would seem reckless to most biologists.
She wanted them to collect as many frogs of as many different species as they could and move them out of El Valle before the virus hit. She estimated they had only weeks to carry out the mass frog evacuation.
"We are going to overcollect hundreds of animals," Mendelson said. "That flies in the face of all conservation logic."
There was no time to do the meticulous studies of behavior, reproduction, eating habits and habitat that zoologists try to conduct before moving any endangered species from its natural environment.
There was not even time to figure out where to keep the hundreds of frogs they would collect.
"Years and years of work go into moving one species out of the environment," Mendelson said. "We decided that can't happen. There's no time for that. We had to figure out what could be done quickly and, of course, legally."
They went into the forest at night, because most frogs are nocturnal, slogging down a river in hip waders and carrying powerful flashlights. After four separate trips, some lasting only 48 hours, the two men, along with a native guide who was stealthy and had quick reflexes, managed to gather 600 frogs.
They tried to get 20 males and 20 females of each species to ensure good genetic variation in the breeding colonies.
To feed them, they rented a house and left piles of rotting fruit in the corners to attract flies. "It was pretty stinky," Gagliardo said.
Then there were those trips through airport security.
A guard in the Panama City airport was not satisfied with the letters of explanation that the biologists presented, even though they included permission from the Panamanian government to collect the frogs.
He had them open a container that held the Michael Jordan of jumpers, a species the biologists like to call rocket frogs.
"I open it and, sure enough, the frog goes bing!" Mendelson said.
Fortunately, Gagliardo caught the frog before it landed on anyone in the amazed crowd that had gathered around to watch.
Many of the species they brought home to their respective institutions in Atlanta had never before been kept in captivity.
But Gagliardo, who has been bringing frogs home since he was 4 years old, has developed a fine touch for their husbandry and for recreating environments in which they can thrive and breed.
He quickly realized, for example, that a translucent species of frog collected from a cloud forest was not breeding because it needed, well, clouds.
With a misting humidifier that he bought on eBay and some plastic pipe, Gagliardo filled the frogs' glass tank with a steady wisp of white water vapor. Once the tank, which sits in a corner of a behind-the-scenes room at Zoo Atlanta, was bubbling over with a creeping mist, like a witch's caldron, tadpoles followed in short order.
"It's a bit of a Noah's Ark, in some ways," Gagliardo said. "But it gives these species that are predicted to go a new lease on life."
Not all experts, it should be noted, are fans of what has come to be called the rapid response protocol.
David Wake, an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said the strategy felt too much like triage.
"I am alarmed at the apparent disappearance of so many amphibians in Central America," Wake said. "But if the situation is so bad, then much organized thought should be given to a plan for captive breeding that is not responsive to emergencies only, but that looks at all amphibians worldwide to decide where limited funds would be best spent."
Not all species are equally valuable, he noted, and not all are equally at risk.
Still, in an apparent validation of their tactics, Mendelson said the chytrid fungus recently was found in El Valle, as predicted, and he estimated that 90 percent of the frogs there would be gone within 90 days.
"You won't hear scientists say this too often," Mendelson said. "But I wish we were wrong."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/05/news/frog.php
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[ian]

I hope what they are doing will yield success.
Thanks for the article. Feel so upsetting whenever reading about amphibian in such a great danger.

[jameswei]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/science/06frog.html?ex=1149739200&amp;en=316dd22700801eb5&amp;ei=5 087%0A

Heres a new yorktimes article corresponding on the same topic.

[kyle]

Thanks for posting that article. We are setting up enclosures and rooms at the Omaha Zoo at this very moment with hopes of helping keep and breed the frogs mentioned in the article, which have been collected. Hopefully being a very successful part of the proverbial "Noah's Ark" -- time will tell.

[mark]

I understand the philosophy behind what they did but I'm still troubled by it. Once the frogs reproduce, what then? They can't be re-introduced back into their native area because the chytrid fungus is there. Unless the team of collectors was extremely careful they may have introduced or sped up the fungus arrival into the valley. The frogs will never end up in the private sector because we're "amateurs" and don't have the where for all to take care of such "valuable and endangered" animals. Only a few zoological facilities are capable and able to take on such projects. What we'll get is a program similar to the one governing the San Francisco Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia, zoos are allowed to display them but only single sex. No breeding allowed. Being a garter this is a relatively easy snake to breed and they produce on average 12-18 neonates per litter. Oh my gosh, we could actually breed this animal and produce enough offspring that we wouldn't need protection and the animals could be available to the private sector. Now we can't have that because it would cut off the flow of grant monies. Quite a few don't even view the San Francisco Garter as a true subspecies but rather a color morph of the highly variable California Red-sided Garter SnakeT.s.infernalis. Its range completely surrounds tetrataenia and some color morphs of infernalis look just like the two color morphs of infrenalis. Again the feds won't recognize the facts.

[kyle]

Mark, I do agree with you. Although I may be sticking my foot in my mouth with what I'm saying, but I think there is a way to get the public involved, just not every joe schmoe who thinks an Atelopus is "real purdy like." Obviously, I'm exaggerating, but if there was a way to set up a group who would help screen for qualified individuals willing to help with a project like this massive captive breeding program, it could really have amazing results.

Obviously, species would first need to be established by the so called experts you find in zoos, but when you have this surplus and no where to put them, then what? I bet there are hundreds of dart frog enthusiasts who would be more than able, and love to keep and breed Ateloplus. The issue becomes a moral one, when you have to look at where these frogs are going and who just wants to make a buck. Then you also have to look at the tangible physical side where, how were these frogs kept, who was bred to who, and what kind of pathogens have they been exposed to verses this group over here.

In a project such as this, control cannot be overstated. There is a method behind the madness - You're right, the short term, it looks like we will overbreed these frogs (we can only hope). Then what? Well, the longterm, we need to control every aspect of these frogs and have as many as possible when the time comes that chytrid has been cleaned up, or simply disappears - if it does that. We don't know for sure what it thrives on, or how to get rid of it aside from bleach. From what I read, there is a thing or two about frogs in bleach that doesn't mix well, and bleaching a cloud forest mountain stream just doesn't seem feasable anyhow ;).

So, hopefully, 2...5....10 years from now, chytrid will be a thing of the past, and though most wild populations of frogs were killed off, we will have controlled captive populations which we can experiment with re-releasing, finding what it takes to successfully introduce a fully captive born frog. Another thing we don't have much experience with, but there are success stories beginning out there, such as with the Puerto Rican Crested Toads.

That's the way I see this conservation project working. It won't be perfect, and we aren't exactly fully prepared, but its the best we can do with what we've got, and there is reason.

On the otherhand, there is a lot to be fixed with past projects, and I can name several species besides the SanFrancisco Garters that are just sitting in zoo's, with no real hope of release, or further breeding efforts. Zoo's made some mistakes, and hopefully learned from them, and will focus on species which have pristine habitat to be replaced to, or at least habitat that has the potential to be cleaned up.

[edward]

Sigh... the perpetual accusation of the hobbyist against the Zoos....

The situation is a little more complex than that a person would be denied the animals just because they are a hobbyist or an amateur but more on that later...

I have significant doubts that it will end up being like the San Fran Garter Snake issue which is controlled by USF@W who are not running this frog rescue... The SF Garter issue is maintained in this fashion due to the laundering of the Garters out of the country, which has been documented by some of the recipients (see http://www.gartersnake.co.uk/mycollection.htm#Thamnophis%20sirtalis%20tetrataen ia%20-%20San%20Francisco%20garter%20snake). By restricting the Zoos to single sex collections, they do not have to worry about offspring and tracking said offspring and this effectively halts the laundering of snakes..

In theory you could eventually breed sufficient snakes ect to supply the demand for the pet trade but how do you prevent unscrupulous people from collecting from the remaining populating potentially extirpating the wild snakes until someone is breeding sufficient snakes to supply all of the demand? How do you ensure that all of the snakes in the pet trade are legal? At what price is it no longer worthwhile to collect any wild animals given that people are still being arrested for collecting and selling herps that wholesale for less than 5 dollars apiece (and in some cases for less than a dollar apiece). Recently a person was arrested attempting to leave Costa Rica with more than 20 Dendrobates auratus (a frog that wholesales for less than $10 USA each)...

In addition, the pet trade routinely flouts the laws and sells animals known to be illegal such as Dendrobates castenoticus or Typhlonectes natans. Given these examples, why would any governing body be willing to hand animals over to the pet trade?

There are multiple reasons for "amateurs" in general not being considered to work with institutions in these projects (besides the track record listed above). These are varied such as the instability of the people involved in general (the rapidity at which people get out of the hobby (this has caused significant loss of genetic diversity in some species as well as the loss of some animals in general (such as Epidobates boulangeri, and some killifish), the unwillingness of many people to attempt to maintain maximal genetic diversity (and to maintain the documentation to show where they aquired the animals, etc), and breeding for profit (which the general public has an issue with conservation programs conducting) to name a few off the top of my head.
The "amateurs" would have to be able to show that they are beyond the above issues to be considered to be part of the program...

The people involved in the collection of the anurans did take extra precautions to avoid the introduction of chytrid into an area where it will be found in just a couple of years.

At this time it appears that chytrid can survive for at least 10 years in suitable habitat in the wild....

Some comments....

Ed

[mark]

The problem is no matter what is done a few bad apples are going to screw it up for the rest of us. I didn't mean to come off anti-proffessional.
i've had great working relationships with numerous professionals while I was in San Diego. Even though technically an amateur I have extensive experience with a wide variety of herps both maintaining and breeding. Early on in my herp keeping years I broke from the norm with herp keeping styles and technique. It never made sense to me to keep every reptile as hot as possible and every amphibian as wet as possible. I understand the not letting the amateurs have the overstock but what needs to be realized is that there is a group of us that is somewhere in between professional and amateur. We know our stuff and a lot of the breeding techniques used by the pros was developed by us. Most of would be willing to go through a permitting system and be open to inspections, if you're on the up and up what have you got to hide? I have experienced pro snobbery first hand but don't let it bother me because it is their loss not mine. I try to learn something new every day and have been know to be wrong a time or two(just ask my wife). I guess what it all boils down to is what are they going to do with the offspring if there is no place for them to go.

[ian]

I am not a pro in here. But just a few comments. I personally just dont think it will be much of a problem with having too much offspring and no where to let them go. Provided that we dont have much of a option. If the chytrid is giving us the headache, I think we can only blame how at the first place we screwed up all the balance of our planet nature system. Saving the species in a zoo is better than seeing them go extinct and do nothing.

[edward]

In that case Mark keep a close eye on http://www.treewalkers.org/

If this NGO works then it should be the bridge you are looking to see occur.

Ed

[kyle]

Congratulations on your spot with the Board of Directors there Ed - keep us updated on the progress of this organization, it looks to be quite promising.

[edward]

Hi Kyle,

I was very surprised when I was asked to be on the startup board. It was very unexpected. It is taking a lot of work and review so I have high hopes.

Ed

[mark]

Good luck Ed! I will be keeping tabs on the group. You've got some great people,including yourself, on the board. Hopefully it doesn't get too bogged down in bureaucracy. I've requested updates and offered to help in what ever capacity I can.
Mark

[justin]

I just left Panama yesterday and was shown some of what was going on there by a researcher friend who had been working there for some time. The situation is as bad as they suggest or worse, there are dead frogs now at pretty regular frequencies just laying around and visibly ill frogs. I agree it is not ideal, but something needs to be done, and this is the most proactive thing thus far. Also, the people there (zookeepers, veterinarians, graduate students, etc) are all volunteers and either are paying for the entire trip to help alone, or their institutions are helping pay for it. I think it's a great good-will approach to working with a very real and difficult problem. After seeing all of that I agree that I think Tree Walkers will be a powerful force in the near future to help combat these issues, and they (we) will need the help of many people in the near future.
j

[TJ]

Thanks for posting that interesting article, Wes.

The article on the NYT website had a link to a paper titled Amphibian diversity: Decimation by disease (Pieter T. J. Johnson)

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/extract/103/9/3011

If anybody has a PDF of the full text of this article, don't be shy about sending it to me http://www.caudata.org/forum/clipart/biggrin.gif

Ed, interesting to hear about Treewalkers. Best of luck with this new endeavor! You too, Justin.

(Message edited by TJ on June 12, 2006)

[mark]

Hey Justin, are you going to make it to Frog Fest on July 29?

[justin]

No, I'm sorry, I'll just be getting back from Peru around that time and don't have enough money to travel more. Email me privately though if you want to chat.
j

[michael]

We're fortunate to have a researcher that is in the forefront of amphibian research as a member of our forum.

Shower well use lots of foot powder and quarantine for at least 2 weeks before showing up at my house.

[wes]

<u>GLOBE AND MAIL</u> (Toronto, Ontario) 13 June 06 Frogs spreading fatal fungus, scientists say Invading bullfrogs carry infection that wipes out other amphibians} (Matthew Kwong)
Vancouver: The microscopic menace that has been killing off large populations of amphibians in Australia, Europe and Central America is now being spread by invading bullfrogs in British Columbia, scientists have found.
A study from the University of Victoria warns of an impending fungal infection carried by giant, bullfrogs that have invaded the Fraser Valley and south Vancouver Island.
Scientists have blamed the fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, for staggeringly rapid declines in endangered species populations around the world ever since it was discovered in 1998.
Now the University of Victoria research paper, published in this month's <u>Biology Letters</u>, has identified the fungus in B.C. The report finds that the alien American bullfrog -- originally brought over in the 1930s for the province's frog-farming industry -- has infected native species such as the <font color="ff0000">rough-skinned newt</font> and the northern leopard frog.
"The problem with the disease is that when these declines happen, within four to six months, 80 per cent of these [native] frogs disappear," said study co-author Purnima Govindarajulu.
"We're trying to be proactive. Can we stop the kind of catastrophic declines here that have been happening across the world?" Although the fungus-carrying American bullfrogs are not affected themselves, spores are shed in the water and can bind to the epidermis of other amphibians. Once infected, the sick amphibian's skin reddens and sheds unusual amounts before the animal dies.
"How exactly [the fungus] causes death we don't know, but all the fluid balance is done through the sensitive skin," Dr. Govindarajulu said, adding that B.C. now holds the "global responsibility" of saving the world's last healthy population of western toads from the pathogen.
"[The western toad] has been declared globally endangered as a red-listed species, but because we have quite a big population in B.C., we're starting to worry about them." The fungus already wiped out the midwife toad species in France, but efforts to contain an outbreak by eradicating the infectious bullfrogs proved useless there, said University of Victoria biologist Brad Anholt.
Hungry, intruding American bullfrogs -- the largest species of North American frog -- have been an ecological concern in southern Vancouver Island for years.
University of Victoria researchers worried in 2001 that the reptilian giants were eating their way to the top of the food chain and would soon supplant native species. (American bullfrogs can grow to 600 grams and eat insects, snakes, salamanders, rodents, other frogs and even birds.) But compounded with the discovery that the generalist predators also transmit a lethal fungus, bullfrogs are now proving to be an even larger problem than before.
"Originally we thought it might just be bullfrogs eating [native species], but now it might be bullfrogs eating plus carrying a disease," said Dr. Anholt.
While bullfrogs are native in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, they're only invasive in B.C. The fungus has also never been detected in any other Canadian province.
But if B.C. wants to protect its unique and endangered amphibians, humans need to realize the everyday impact they can have on aquatic ecosystems, Dr. Anholt said.
"We hope people will be more well aware of moving tadpoles in buckets.
"It's great to have kids be interested in biology, but bullfrogs can get spread about and take the fungus with them." Humans are the primary way by which bullfrogs migrate. Other factors such as converting ponds to permanent ponds, introducing fish to fishless ponds and cutting down trees near native frog habitats only make it easier for the predatory bullfrogs to thrive.
"Our thinking is, are there ways to change habitat so [native species] can co-exist with bullfrogs," Dr. Govindarajulu asked.
Scientists believe the original fungus strain came from African clawed frogs shipped for pregnancy tests in the 1940s. After years of cross-contamination, the American bullfrog likely picked up the disease.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060613.BCFROGS13/TPStory/?query=frog

[ian]

O... no.. now it is in Canada as well. And the rough skinned newt.... Should I becareful when purchasing Rough Skin newt from store now?

[joan]

Ian, if the newts have it, they'll probably be dead before they make it to the pet stores.

[edward]

Joan,

Chytrid is already in the pet stores and has been there for at least 5 years. It has been detected on amphibians at a buch of importers and wholesalers.

Ed

[ian]

I am really getting scared. cause my newt is keep shedding skin. I just hope that is not it. I hope I get to read more about Chytrid. Actually, how long can an amphibian animal live after getting Chytrid?

(Message edited by achiinto on June 16, 2006)

[edward]

from frognet on the original post that started this thread.

snip" Hi folks,
The article that appeared in the NY Times on June 6 was mentioned a
couple of weeks ago on FrogNet. While the story did a good job of
bringing the amphibian crisis to the public, I thought it might be a
good idea to clarify a few things that were perhaps not so clear in
this particular piece. This was essentially an experimental, pilot
study to determine just what action could be taken in response
catastrophic event (such as in this case, the invasion of chytrid
fungus.) to preserve critically endangered species predicted to by
wiped out. It was fully sanctioned by the Panamanian authorities.
We made 3 separate exports all in 2005, yes, using insulated luggage
carriers, but as not made too clear in the article, with FULL written
permission of Panama AND our airline carriers. The results include
not only having assurance colonies of several rare endemic amphibian
species safely in captivity but more importantly the development of a
model that could be adopted in the future to other places around the
globe.

Of course, setting up this type of captive breeding operation would
be best done in country but in late 2004 and through 2005, there
simply was no place in Panama to carry this out, hence the export.
However, as part of the project we still promoted the idea of doing
this work in Panama. This is where the Houston Zoo has stepped up to
the plate and recently completed the El Valle Amphibian Conservation
Center at the El Nispero Zoo in El Valle, Panama. At this moment a
massive rescue operation is underway in El Valle, where sites teeming
with endemic amphibians only one year ago are now littered with dying
frogs infected with chytrid! We just returned from El Valle and saw
this with our own eyes. It's very depressing and for once, we hoped
that the "prediction" was wrong! However, is was not and dead frogs
are found daily, but a rescue effort is well underway. The Houston
Zoo is coordinating this effort with support from other Zoos,
Aquariums and others. Contributions of labor, supplies and funds are
still needed and anyone inclined to assist should contact Paul Crump
at the Houston Zoo. In the meantime, for further information on the
program, please visit www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/site/ (http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/site/)
conservation/amphibian_research#partnership, www.zooatlanta.org (http://www.zooatlanta.org) or
www.houstonzoo.org/Golden_Frogs.aqf (http://www.houstonzoo.org/Golden_Frogs.aqf)

We feel that while captive breeding may be an important tool in the
"preservation" of species, it is by no means the ONLY way to do so
but in the situation where habitat protection or control of other
threats (disease, contaminants, climate change, over-harvest, etc.)
is not effective, there is little hope for some species. Of course,
on a global scale, creating "Noah's Arks" for all critically
threatened species seems insurmountable but we can attempt to give a
few species a little lien on life while other researchers continue to
attack the various threats affecting amphibians. Taking action
against global amphibian declines is a huge issue requiring massive,
coordinated efforts supporting various areas of research and new
approaches to conservation as we know it. The upcoming July 7 issue
of the journal Science will have a summary piece on this subject for
those interested.


Thanks for your time.
Best,
Ron Gagliardo, Atlanta Botanical Garden
Joe Mendelson, Zoo Atlanta"endsnip

Ed