# Endemic Infection of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in a Frog



## r90s (Jun 13, 2006)

Endemic Infection of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in a Frog Community Post-Decline

Richard W. R. Retallick1,2,3, Hamish McCallum2*, Rick Speare4

1 School of Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, 2 Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia, 3 School of Life Sciences—Biology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America, 4 Amphibian Diseases Group, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been implicated in the decline and extinction of numerous frog species worldwide. In Queensland, Australia, it has been proposed as the cause of the decline or apparent extinction of at least 14 high-elevation rainforest frog species. One of these, Taudactylus eungellensis, disappeared from rainforest streams in Eungella National Park in 1985–1986, but a few remnant populations were subsequently discovered. Here, we report the analysis of B. dendrobatidis infections in toe tips of T. eungellensis and sympatric species collected in a mark-recapture study between 1994 and 1998. This longitudinal study of the fungus in individually marked frogs sheds new light on the effect of this threatening infectious process in field, as distinct from laboratory, conditions. We found a seasonal peak of infection in the cooler months, with no evidence of interannual variation. The overall prevalence of infection was 18% in T. eungellensis and 28% in Litoria wilcoxii/jungguy, a sympatric frog that appeared not to decline in 1985–1986. No infection was found in any of the other sympatric species. Most importantly, we found no consistent evidence of lower survival in T. eungellensis that were infected at the time of first capture, compared with uninfected individuals. These results refute the hypothesis that remnant populations of T. eungellensis recovered after a B. dendrobatidis epidemic because the pathogen had disappeared. They show that populations of T. eungellensis now persist with stable, endemic infections of B. dendrobatidis.

Academic Editor: Georgina M. Mace, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London

Received: March 26, 2004; Accepted: August 12, 2004; Published: October 5, 2004

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020351

Copyright: © 2004 Retallick et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abbreviations: AIC, Akaike Information Criterion; Δdev, change in deviance; se, standard error

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]

Citation: Retallick RWR, McCallum H, Speare R (2004) Endemic Infection of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in a Frog Community Post-Decline. PLoS Biol 2(11): e351

*Here Is A Link to This Article, And Links To Later Articles (on this issue), And Other Open Source Articles.*

PloS Biology-Endemic Infection of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in a Frog Community Post-Decline

Clyde


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## r90s (Jun 13, 2006)

*Chytridiomycosis In Amphibians*

Links:

Direct Link To AJCs Chytrid MP3 Audio File












Diagnosis of chytridiomycosis in amphibians by histologic examination 

By: Berger L, Speare R, Kent A. Diagnosis of chytridiomycosis in amphibians by histologic examination. World Wide Web file, http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/ ... hhisto.htm, 20 November 1999.



Global Distribution of Chytridiomycosis
in Amphibians 

By: Speare R, Berger L.


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## r90s (Jun 13, 2006)

fishdoc said:


> Just a couple of additional notes:
> 
> we work with the san diego zoological society on chytrid, and the current recommendation is a small tipped plastic swab, shipped directly. no alcohol. It appears that air drying is preferred.
> 
> ...


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