wes_von_papineäu
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POST-DISPATCH (St. Louis, Missouri) 19 July 07 Area's amphibians face a new threat (Amy Maxmen)
Jeff Briggler was looking for bad news when he swabbed slime off a 2-foot-long hellbender salamander in the Ozarks last year.
And he found it.
Laboratory technicians analyzed the slime and confirmed what Briggler suspected. Some of the state's hellbenders were infected by a fungus that has wiped out entire frog populations.
As more scientists report dramatic declines in amphibian populations in other parts of the world, area conservationists are looking for similar problems in Missouri and Illinois. Briggler, an amphibian specialist at the Missouri Department of Conservation, noted that endangered hellbender populations in the Ozarks have been shrinking. Lost habitat is one reason; fungus may be another.
Nearly one-third of the world's 6,000 amphibian species are on the brink of extinction. By comparison, just 12 percent of all bird species and 23 percent of all mammal species are threatened.
"We need to understand why we are losing species in Panama, Asia, my own backyard in Illinois, and across the river in Missouri," said Karen Lips, a zoologist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. "This is not just a problem of global amphibian decline. It is a problem of global amphibian extinction."
Amphibians eat insects and pests and provide food for birds of prey. Chemicals extracted from their skin have been found to provide cures to ailments.
Scientists say there are many reasons for the decline of amphibians: habitat destruction, pollution from pesticides and herbicides, as well as the proliferation of exotic species, such as invasive bullfrogs that devour native frogs in Paris. Still, amphibian populations are crashing in forest reserves, untouched by the aforementioned afflictions.
Fingers pointed to an emerging infectious disease caused by the very same fungus, called chytrid (pronounced "kit-rid"), that Briggler found on hellbenders. Scientists confirm that the fungus has led to the demise of amphibian populations in the Americas, the Caribbean and Australia.
Just four months after the fungus reaches a previously uninfected population, it can wipe out half of the amphibian species in an area, Lips said. She surveys frog populations exposed to the chytrid fungus in Panama.
When the fungus hit the Sierra Nevada in California, 90 percent of the mountain range's yellow-legged frog population died, she said.
Three weeks ago, the World Conservation Union proposed a global plan that would curb amphibian decline. Divided into sections based on the top 11 amphibian plagues, such as climate change and infectious disease, the plan sets guidelines for conservation in different parts of the world. The five-year initiative has a price tag over $400 million.
Contributors to the report discussed amphibian conservation at the Joint Meeting for Ichthyologists and Herpetologists - fish and amphibian experts - held last week at the Hyatt Regency in St. Louis.
Concern began in 1989 when scientists casually shared stories about how difficult it was to find frogs and salamanders.
"The problem was more serious than they had feared," said James Hanken, a herpetologist at Harvard University.
Researchers have more to learn about how the fungus decimates amphibian populations. It may act by infecting the skin with so many fungus cells that the frog, which uses its skin to breathe, essentially suffocates.
A research team from Canada and California examined preserved museum specimens and found that some frogs had been infected in parts of North America since the 1960s. Although the fungus may be the same, the environment has changed. Researchers think that current lethal outbreaks are the result of underlying, predisposing factors.
Like immune-suppressed humans, frogs that have been weakened by pesticides or stressed from urban development succumb more easily to infection.
David Wake, curator of herpetology at University of California at Berkeley, said the reason for amphibian decline was "death by 1,000 cuts. ... By the time the fungus arrives, animals are easy prey."
But fungal infection pales in comparison to threats from habitat loss because of urban development and agriculture in Missouri and Illinois, area herpetologists say.
Harsh winters and hot summers limit the fungus in the Midwest. While many frogs and salamanders safely rest in burrows below ponds in the winter, freezing temperatures kill the fungus. When temperatures over 90 degrees last for hours in the summer, the fungus fairs poorly.
Still, the fungus, which has been so devastating elsewhere, must be monitored. Lips warned, "Think about global warming; if the winter becomes warmer, then you may not get rid of it."
Scientists call frogs and other amphibians the canary in the coal mine.
Amphibians breathe through their skin and can be used to monitor the health of the surrounding environment for other animals, including humans. David Wake said the problem was that unlike the miner, we can't leave when the canary croaks.
Experts hope the world will pay attention.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...CB0A66537F5E3CA48625731D000ED9FA?OpenDocument
Jeff Briggler was looking for bad news when he swabbed slime off a 2-foot-long hellbender salamander in the Ozarks last year.
And he found it.
Laboratory technicians analyzed the slime and confirmed what Briggler suspected. Some of the state's hellbenders were infected by a fungus that has wiped out entire frog populations.
As more scientists report dramatic declines in amphibian populations in other parts of the world, area conservationists are looking for similar problems in Missouri and Illinois. Briggler, an amphibian specialist at the Missouri Department of Conservation, noted that endangered hellbender populations in the Ozarks have been shrinking. Lost habitat is one reason; fungus may be another.
Nearly one-third of the world's 6,000 amphibian species are on the brink of extinction. By comparison, just 12 percent of all bird species and 23 percent of all mammal species are threatened.
"We need to understand why we are losing species in Panama, Asia, my own backyard in Illinois, and across the river in Missouri," said Karen Lips, a zoologist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. "This is not just a problem of global amphibian decline. It is a problem of global amphibian extinction."
Amphibians eat insects and pests and provide food for birds of prey. Chemicals extracted from their skin have been found to provide cures to ailments.
Scientists say there are many reasons for the decline of amphibians: habitat destruction, pollution from pesticides and herbicides, as well as the proliferation of exotic species, such as invasive bullfrogs that devour native frogs in Paris. Still, amphibian populations are crashing in forest reserves, untouched by the aforementioned afflictions.
Fingers pointed to an emerging infectious disease caused by the very same fungus, called chytrid (pronounced "kit-rid"), that Briggler found on hellbenders. Scientists confirm that the fungus has led to the demise of amphibian populations in the Americas, the Caribbean and Australia.
Just four months after the fungus reaches a previously uninfected population, it can wipe out half of the amphibian species in an area, Lips said. She surveys frog populations exposed to the chytrid fungus in Panama.
When the fungus hit the Sierra Nevada in California, 90 percent of the mountain range's yellow-legged frog population died, she said.
Three weeks ago, the World Conservation Union proposed a global plan that would curb amphibian decline. Divided into sections based on the top 11 amphibian plagues, such as climate change and infectious disease, the plan sets guidelines for conservation in different parts of the world. The five-year initiative has a price tag over $400 million.
Contributors to the report discussed amphibian conservation at the Joint Meeting for Ichthyologists and Herpetologists - fish and amphibian experts - held last week at the Hyatt Regency in St. Louis.
Concern began in 1989 when scientists casually shared stories about how difficult it was to find frogs and salamanders.
"The problem was more serious than they had feared," said James Hanken, a herpetologist at Harvard University.
Researchers have more to learn about how the fungus decimates amphibian populations. It may act by infecting the skin with so many fungus cells that the frog, which uses its skin to breathe, essentially suffocates.
A research team from Canada and California examined preserved museum specimens and found that some frogs had been infected in parts of North America since the 1960s. Although the fungus may be the same, the environment has changed. Researchers think that current lethal outbreaks are the result of underlying, predisposing factors.
Like immune-suppressed humans, frogs that have been weakened by pesticides or stressed from urban development succumb more easily to infection.
David Wake, curator of herpetology at University of California at Berkeley, said the reason for amphibian decline was "death by 1,000 cuts. ... By the time the fungus arrives, animals are easy prey."
But fungal infection pales in comparison to threats from habitat loss because of urban development and agriculture in Missouri and Illinois, area herpetologists say.
Harsh winters and hot summers limit the fungus in the Midwest. While many frogs and salamanders safely rest in burrows below ponds in the winter, freezing temperatures kill the fungus. When temperatures over 90 degrees last for hours in the summer, the fungus fairs poorly.
Still, the fungus, which has been so devastating elsewhere, must be monitored. Lips warned, "Think about global warming; if the winter becomes warmer, then you may not get rid of it."
Scientists call frogs and other amphibians the canary in the coal mine.
Amphibians breathe through their skin and can be used to monitor the health of the surrounding environment for other animals, including humans. David Wake said the problem was that unlike the miner, we can't leave when the canary croaks.
Experts hope the world will pay attention.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...CB0A66537F5E3CA48625731D000ED9FA?OpenDocument
