New European Network on Chytridiomycosis Funded

The funding organisation BiodiverERsA has funded a new EU Network to investigate the emergence of Bd in Europe. RACE (Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European Amphibians) has been awarded 2,258,000 € to implement the first pan-European attempt to mitigate disease. The project aims to (i) identify the natural and anthropogenic drivers of chytridiomycosis in Europe (ii) improve national and pan-European competence in surveillance and diagnosis and to determine the geographic scope of the problem by developing laboratory diagnostic facilities and a state-of-the-art surveillance framework (iii) acquire field-data on the prevalence, intensity and timing of infection/mortalities and (iv) to develop spatial-genetic information and to integrate these into the global genotype dataset to identify the timing, and frequency, of Bd introduction(s) into Europe, as well as assessing the differential virulence of genotypes.

The data and scientific outputs produced by RACE will be used to develop a standardised EU-wide monitoring scheme by disseminating information to national and international stakeholders and by building collaborations in under-surveyed countries; these approaches will be formalised into a European Threat Abatement Plan (ETAP). The kick-off meeting for RACE is in Moulis, the French Pyrenees, in March 2009.

RACE is composed of a core group of laboratories in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. However, a core goal of RACE is to capacity build outside of these core-countries and research groups. Interest in RACE, and participation, are warmly welcomed; contact Matthew Fisher (matthew.fisher@imperial.ac.uk) and Trent Garner (trent.garner@ioz.ac.uk) for further information.

Sir David Attenborough Tells London Zoo Audience That European Amphibians Are In Trouble

Sir David Attenborough, Patron of AArk, hosted an evening on 'Amphibians in a climate of change' as an awareness-raiser about the plight of amphibians. Jonathan Baillie, Trent Garner and Helen Meredith gave talks on the current and future challenges facing amphibians. Factors including climate change, habitat destruction and disease that could wipe out more than half of Europe’s amphibians by 2050, according to Trent Garner from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Helen Meredith, amphibians co-ordinator for ZSL's Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) programme, warned: "There is no time to waste if we are to prevent further species loss. "We need to reduce carbon emissions, but also address other pressing factors including habitat destruction and spread of diseases."

Captive Breeding Introduced Bd To Mallorcan Midwife Toads

The Mallorcan midwife toad, Alytes muletensis, is one of the worlds most highly endangered amphibian species. Presumed extinct until 1978, the species was 're-discovered' hiding in the arid Sierra de Tramuntana mountains in the north of the Island; the species has subsequently been the focus of a highly successful captive-breeding and reintroduction program. However, mortalities and subsequent detection of high-prevalence infection by Bd clustered into two adjacent breeding-sites rang alarm-bells. Subsequent investigations, reported by Walker et al in Current Biology showed that introduced Alytes were infected by Bd as early as 1989, and had likely picked up the infection in captivity. The paper reports the first use of sequence-typing to demonstrate that island genotypes of Bd are identical, and unrelated to others found in Europe, strengthening the hypothesis that a single introduction of Bd had occurred. The paper reinforces the need for stringent biosecurity methods to prevent cross-transmission of known and unknown pathogens in captivity. As Kevin Zippel of AArk states "It's a much-needed wake-up call. We must do everything in our power to assess and minimize the risks."

6 WCH Manaus

The Sixth World Congress of Herpetology is now over, and a brief report on the opening sessions can be found in the latest issue of Froglog (http://www.amphibians.org/newsletter/Froglog88.pdf). The conference was a roaring success, and not just due to the sloths that chose to roost in the trees at the conference venue or the dolphins that swam by the hotel, clearly visible to those conference particpants basking in the infinity pool. Bd was well-represented at one symposium co-organized by Jean-Marc Hero, Erin Muths and your truly, and talks in the symposium (or given just slightly outside the symposium) ranged from treatment to spatial analyses to a test of the Out Of Africa hypothesis to amphibian trade and infectious diseases. Some of the talks from this and two other symposia (Conservation Genetics and Invasive Herps) will form a special issue of the journal Animal Conservation.

The distribution of Bd in Europe grows.....

Bad news, more Bd to be found in Europe, and this time in one of Europe's most endangered amphibians. As we report in the July issue of Journal of Wildlife Diseases, Bd infection was found in diseased Sardinian brook newts (Bovero et al 2008 Detection of Chytridiomycosis Caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in the Endangered Sardinian Newt (Euproctus platycephalus) in Southern Sardinia, Italy, J Wildl Dis 44: 712-715). We (the ZSL amphibian disease team and "Zirichiltaggi" S. W. C. Non-profit Association for Wildlife Conservation) have been carrying out further surveys in Sardinia and have found further evidence of infection in Sardinia's native (and endemic) amphibian fauna, along with evidence of Bd-driven mortality.

Meeting the challenge of conserving Madagascar's megadiverse amphibians : addition of a risk-assessment for the chytrid fungus

Frogs from Madagascar constitute one of the richest groups of amphibian fauna in the world, with currently 238 described species. Madagascar may be the only region of the world where amphibians are still surviving in a pre-decline phase, and where pro-active conservation measures are likely to work. Andreone et al. describe the development of an amphibian action plan for Madagascar, and show that Madagascar is a top priority for amphibian conservation. As a reply to Andreone et al, Lotters et al in PLoS Biology extend the argument by assessing the level of threat that the introduction of Bd poses to Madagascar's amphibians. Ecological niche-modelling revealed that there is a high risk of Bd spreading post-introduction over a major portion of Madagascar and areas most suitable for Bd largely overlap with both areas of highest amphibian species richness. This study reinforces the point that conservation efforts need to go beyond 'classical' strategies by incorporating stringent biosecurity measures into their planning.

New breeding captivity program at the Peñalara Natural Park

The local government of Madrid, in collaboration with the Museum of Natural History of Spain and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, has started a breeding captivity program to save the midwife toad and the Iberian frog from the Peñalara Natural Park.
The population of midwife toad crashed in 1997 as a consequence of the chytrid fungus, while the Iberian frog was extirpated from most part of the area by introduced trouts. After several years of management and studies, most introduced fish have been removed, and the chytrid fungus levels are apparently lower.
The new facilities include three rooms where tadpoles, metamorphs and crickets (used as alive food) are housed under temperature, humidity and light controlled conditions. Thirty-eight tanks of 80 l each are used to keep isolated tadpoles from different metapopulations for approximately one year, and 90 small boxes are used to keep metamorphs growing until they are released in the field. Egg clutches and small tadpoles of Iberian frogs are captured in the field and grow in the breeding facilities to increase their probability of survival. Captivity-born midwife toads will be produced from the last few adults which survive the disease. Animals to be released in the field will be treated with itraconazole and/or high temperatures at the end of the metamorphosis, to prevent them from dying during that critical period.