{"id":11011,"date":"2015-04-30T20:43:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T00:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=11011"},"modified":"2015-04-30T20:43:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T00:43:20","slug":"fighting-a-fungal-threat-to-salamanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2015\/04\/30\/fighting-a-fungal-threat-to-salamanders\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting a fungal threat to Salamanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

A deadly new fungal infection is spreading through the pet trade<\/h3>\n
\"Plethodon<\/a>

Plethodon jordani<\/i> is a salamander species endemic to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Ecologist Karen K. Lips<\/a> wants to protect P. jordani<\/em> and other wild salamanders from exposure to a deadly new fungal infection that has appeared in captive salamanders in Europe. \u00a0Credit, Nick Caruso.<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

In the wake of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis<\/em> (Bt), the fungal skin infection that has exacted a devastating toll on amphibians around the world, a new, deadly fungus \u2014 that looks all too familiar \u2014 has appeared in European salamanders. Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans<\/em> (Bsal) appears to have arrived in Europe with captive salamanders sold as pets. Salamanders in Asia can carry the infection without getting sick. But in Europe, Bsal kills 96% of the salamanders it infects. Biologists worry that the fungus will appear in the United States and other parts of the Americas next. So far, the Bsal fungus has only been afflicting captive Salamanders in Europe, which means we have a chance to protect wild Salamanders, and prevent the disease from spreading to other vulnerable populations around the world.<\/p>\n

University of Maryland ecologist Karen K. Lips went to Capitol Hill yesterday <\/a>to talk with policy makers about the importance of salamanders to ecosystems, the looming fungal threat, and how we might stop it. Her work was part of an annual exhibition organized by the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) to familiarize lawmakers with investments in research and education through the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

Salamanders are amphibians \u2013 cold-blooded animals that typically start life in the water, breathing with gills, and metamorphose to adults that breathe with lungs and through their thin, permeable skin. Frogs, toads, newts, and caecilians are also amphibians. Amphibian species\u00a0eat slugs, snails, worms, and insects, including insects that carry human diseases and afflict our crops. Some eat fish and even small mammals like mice. Amphibians are, in turn, eaten by many larger animals. They are critical parts of the ecosystems we live in and depend on. Recent decades have seen catastrophic losses due to pollution, disease, and the encroachment of human development.<\/p>\n

\u201cA group of pathogenic chytrid fungi<\/a> have caused amphibian die-offs and population declines around the world, and we have not been able to eliminate the fungus from wild areas nor recover those populations,\u201d said Lips. \u201cWe are faced with a new fungus that is not present in the US, but which is in the live animal trade and could be imported. Regulations are needed to prevent escapes of infected animals into the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

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