wes_von_papineäu
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WIGAN EVENING POST (UK) 24 April 08 Newts facing virus threat (Andrew Cooney)
A killer virus from America could wipe out our famous Great Crested Newts if it reaches Wigan.
Gardeners are being urged NOT to move frogspawn – which can carry the amphibian chytrid virus – from their ponds but leave it in their garden.
An outbreak of the deadly fungal infection has already reached Cumbria, where it threatened their Natterjack Toad population, and there are fears it may now just be a matter of time before it spreads to surrounding counties.
Scientists who have studied the virus have made the chilling prediction that the chytrid virus could be responsible for the biggest mass-extinction since the dinosaurs.
Graham Workman, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust's wildlife and countryside manager, has been studying the virus and says it could have a devastating effect if it reaches Wigan's rich amphibian ecosystem.
He said: "This is going to have a massive impact if it spreads to Wigan and if it reaches the Great Crested Newts it would be heartbreaking.
"When it gets into an area, it wipes out 80% of the population within 12 months. I get lots of phone calls from people in Wigan asking how they can get rid of frogspawn and where they can dump it – I always tell them it's a good thing and it's part of the ecosystem so leave it where it is.
"It won't harm the Koi Carp in the pond and it's more important than ever in light of this threat that people leave it where it is."
Chytrid is believed to have spread from South America, where it grew on the backs of the African Clawed Frog.
The species was commercially distributed around the world in the 1940s and 50s for use in human pregnancy testing.
It was discovered that when women's urine is injected into a gland in the frog it encourages the frog to lay spawn if the woman was pregnant.
The threat to the world's ecosystem is so great, a global £30m project to create an "amphibian Ark" is now being proposed to preserve vulnerable species.
http://www.wigantoday.net/wigannews/Newts-facing-virus-threat.4016121.jp
A killer virus from America could wipe out our famous Great Crested Newts if it reaches Wigan.
Gardeners are being urged NOT to move frogspawn – which can carry the amphibian chytrid virus – from their ponds but leave it in their garden.
An outbreak of the deadly fungal infection has already reached Cumbria, where it threatened their Natterjack Toad population, and there are fears it may now just be a matter of time before it spreads to surrounding counties.
Scientists who have studied the virus have made the chilling prediction that the chytrid virus could be responsible for the biggest mass-extinction since the dinosaurs.
Graham Workman, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust's wildlife and countryside manager, has been studying the virus and says it could have a devastating effect if it reaches Wigan's rich amphibian ecosystem.
He said: "This is going to have a massive impact if it spreads to Wigan and if it reaches the Great Crested Newts it would be heartbreaking.
"When it gets into an area, it wipes out 80% of the population within 12 months. I get lots of phone calls from people in Wigan asking how they can get rid of frogspawn and where they can dump it – I always tell them it's a good thing and it's part of the ecosystem so leave it where it is.
"It won't harm the Koi Carp in the pond and it's more important than ever in light of this threat that people leave it where it is."
Chytrid is believed to have spread from South America, where it grew on the backs of the African Clawed Frog.
The species was commercially distributed around the world in the 1940s and 50s for use in human pregnancy testing.
It was discovered that when women's urine is injected into a gland in the frog it encourages the frog to lay spawn if the woman was pregnant.
The threat to the world's ecosystem is so great, a global £30m project to create an "amphibian Ark" is now being proposed to preserve vulnerable species.
http://www.wigantoday.net/wigannews/Newts-facing-virus-threat.4016121.jp