Amphibians in Grave Danger

Posted on August 15, 2006

Many species of amphibians are in danger of extinction thanks to a fungus that is preying on amphibians weakened by pollution and overdevelopment according to an study described in Science. USA Today's breaking news blog filed a post about the news.

All around the world amphibians - frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and the like - are facing extinction by a rapidly spreading fungus that's being made even more deadly by pollution and overdevelopment, some of world's top scientists warned in research published Friday. At least 427 species are considered "critically endangered," with at least a third of all amphibians threatened. In the past 25 years, the scientists say, about 122 species have become extinct.

The San Francisco Chronicle explains how the fungus could kill creatures weakened by pollutants.

But the fungus, a unique species called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, could start taking on a larger role in the increasing extinction because of global warming, which scientists suspect is lowering amphibians' resistance to the disease.
The fungus was discovered in Australia and Panama only eight years ago and since then has spread across Europe and both the Americas, causing skin infections called chytrid disease in every amphibian species it attacks. The death rate from the infections is 100 percent, biologists have found. The disease, they concluded, "causes catastrophic mortality in amphibian populations, and subsequent extinctions."

The BBC also has a news story about the warning from scientsts which they are calling a "clarion call to save amphibians." Hopefully, the scientist's warning will not fall on deaf ears.

ANIMALS