Filming RACE

Two days of filming have just ended, they will be cut down to 5 minutes by the end of April. Kerala Productions brought over a small team to get explanations on RACE and Chytridiomycosis, focusing on our main sampling area - the Pyrenees. Pierre and Pauline made some nice shots, happily taking all moving amphibians on tape. They got explanations on the whole range of RACE work, starting from sampling , marking and swabbing individuals to the genetic methods and behavioural experiments. They also were part of the world premier - the implementation of ALPHA tags into Alytes tadpoles.

So, lets wait what is the end result. In any case, it was fun and two days did fly by quickly.

Looking forward seeing the result!

RACEing ahead (as Mat likes to say)

Yes, the European Bd project is having it's second meeting. Aside from the rather kitch Star Trek allegories, the meeting is extremely informative. Highlights include updates on the Swiss surveillance and mitigation projects, Jaime's work on Iberian endangered species, temporal patterns of Bd infection in adult toads and the Mallorcan mitigation project and a fantastic experiment by Emilien and Sandrine from Lyon examining the interaction between experimental Bd challenge and host population isolation. Currently we are in the midst of a spatialepidemiology.net workshop, led by David and Chris, learning how to real time our data into the European (and, by extension, the global) d-base. Our EU network grows: we have at a minimum another ten active Bd research groups in Europe, and several others readying themselves for initiating projects. At least 5 new PhDs in Europe working on Bd!

While it's clear that field projects in France have some time before starting (we are meeting in Grenoble and the snow and temperature are clear indicators of that), we are gearing up for field work at some of the warmer locales. Jaime will soon start another Iberia-wide field trip, interrupted by a collaborative project with Judit Voros (sorry, Judit, no idea how to do umlauts in Blogger) in Hungary, and Jon Bielby and I should be heading to Sardinia soon to continue our collaborative project with Zirichiltaggi and Ente Foreste Sarda.

A challenge to our North American counterparts: start blogging!

Living the high life is risky business for midwive's in Iberia

Walker et al. have published their long-awaited survey of the prevalence of Bd across the Iberian peninsula in Ecology Letters. The study focuses on common midwives, Alytes muletensis, and combines multilocus genotyping with bayesian analyses to show that Bd is not at equilibrium within Iberia, but is still spreading. While lowland populations of Alytes appear to co-exist with the chytrid, high-altitude populations exhibit chytridiomycosis and seasonal die-offs, demonstrating a very strong interaction between altitude/temperature and disease. Within a key region, the Pyrenean mountain range, Bd is absent across the majority of the range except for a tight cluster of genotypically-identical Bd strains in the western Pyrenean National Park. How Bd arrived in this region is not known: there are no known introduced non-native amphibian species in this area however the montane lakes are regularly 'seeded' with salmonid fish for the angling industry. Efforts now need to focus on the process of introduction and spread, as it is a key concern to prevent the wider spread of Bd throughout this ecologically sensitive region.

Terrestrial chytridiomycosis

Sara Weinstein has published an exciting study of Bd infecting and affecting a strictly terrestrial plethodontid salamander in the Western US (Weinstein Copeia 2009(4): 653-660). She provides strong evidence for a historical relationship between Batrachoseps attenuatus and Bd, going back as far as 1973, that seems to involve mortality of the species in the field. Her experiments convincingly show that Bd infection leads to death in the species and some insight into the link between environmental moisture and mortality. Fascinating work on a host species not expected to be so strongly affected by a supposedly aquatic parasite. This, along with the recent paper in Molecular Ecology by Goka et al. (2009, vol 18(23): 4757-4774) are the most significant papers on chytridiomycosis, caudate hosts and historical interactions to come along for quite some time.

'Extinction in our times: global amphibian decline'

Jim Collins and Martha Crump have published a 304-page book on amphibian declines. Extinction in our times sets out the key events that led to a realisation that amphibian declines were not only real, but were also occurring globally. Collins & Crump have written an impartial and detailed overview of the known, and unknown factors driving declines, as well as the complex inter-relationships between scientific agendas, industrial interests, government policy and conservation ethics. It's a great read, essential for all those who work on, or are interested in, amphiban declines. A review of the book by Mat Fisher can be read in PLoS Biology.

More Bad News for Mountain Chickens

As previously posted, the Mountain Chicken Frog, Leptodactylus fallax, suffered catastrophic decline due to the emergence of Bd on the island of Dominica. Previous research had shown that the only other island where the species occurs, Montserrat, was Bd-free (Garcia et al. 2007, Oryx 41(3): 398-401). This is no longer the case. Bd emerged this spring on Montserrat, and dead chooks were first detected near the main port, suggesting that Bd came onto Montserrat through interisland trade (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7948124.stm). Whatever the route of introduction, Bd has spread rapidly and it is starting to look like we may add another species to the extinct in the wild due to Bd category. Calling males are almost never heard on Dominica, and what few frogs are found there are usually morbund due to advanced chytridiomycosis. The Montserrat frogs already inhabited a narrow range due to the destruction of much of their habitat by the Soufriere Hills volcano.

Durrell, ZSL, the Montserrat government and others mobilized a massive effort to collect as many chooks as they could on Montserrat and these animals have been sent to biosecure facilities (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30685047/) where they have been treated with Itraconazole and are being monitored regularly for signs of disease. The group at London Zoo appears to have responded well to treatment and males are active and, according to Ian Stephen, relatively unafraid of the activities of the staff. Hopes are that the species will be bred successfully at multiple institutions. Unfortunately, this does not address the presence of Bd on both islands that the species is native to.

SAVE THE FROGS DAY - April 28th 2009

To raise awareness of the plight of amphibians, the scientific community has declared April 28th, 2009, the 1st Annual 'Save the Frogs Day'.

The aim of this day is to spread the word about the plight of amphibians. The goal of Save the Frogs Day is to make the amphibian extinction crisis common knowledge by 2010: Help make it happen!

All information about Save the Frogs, and April the 28th, can be found here at the SAVE THE FROGS website.