Emergent Amphibian Diseases

 

The sudden decline and extinction of amphibian species around the world has motivated researchers across many fields to investigate the causes behind the dramatic loss of biodiversity. The list of culprits appears to include habitat loss, climate change, pollution, over-exploitation, and emergent diseases. Moreover, many of these factors have been found to work synergistically. In our area in central New York, widespread declines and extinctions have not been documented officially, but field herpetologists and many local residents have noted a decrease in frogs and salamanders. When amphibian declines were first recognized in the 1990s, efforts focused on areas that seemed hardest hit, including tropical and sub-tropical habitats such as those in Central and South America. At first, little work was directed toward temperate areas like the Northeastern USA, but the identification of two pathogens behind emergent diseases, chytrid fungus and ranavirus, has spurred numerous studies tracking their patterns of infection. Up until 2012 NYS still had no published cases of chytrid infection and the first records of ranavirus only appeared in 2010. The lack of knowledge about our own backyard motivated Dr. Sofia Windstam (fungal and micro-biology) and me to initiate a long-term program monitoring chytrid fungus and ranavirus infections in Oswego County.  The project is entirely student-driven, with the team now including around 20-30 trained undergraduate field researchers. Additionally, students have opportunties to learn molecular lab techniques for diagnosing diseases, including DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and sequencing.