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May 10 (UPI) – Global warming promotes the spread of a virus that causes a deadly outbreak in frogs Rana temporaria.
A team of researchers in England compared ranavirus-related mass mortality event records with climate patterns, found that rising temperatures were associated with an increased risk of viral outbreaks.
If temperatures continue to rise, scientists expect Ranavirus outbreaks to become more severe and occur more frequently.
In addition to analyzing meteorological and frog mortality data compiled by the Met Office and the Froglife frog mortality project, scientists also studied cell cultures and live models in the laboratory. Their tests confirmed that warmer temperatures increased the likelihood that Ranavirus would trigger a deadly disease outbreak.
The latest findings, published this week in the journal Global Change Biology, explain why biologists have long observed epidemics of the most serious diseases during the hottest months of summer.
As global warming continues, the disease, which has been seen mainly in England, could spread elsewhere in the UK. Outbreaks could also become more common in the spring and fall. Large spring shoots could kill tadpoles and severely depress frog populations.
Previous studies have shown that amphibians, particularly frogs, salamanders and newts, are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
"Climate change is not something that happens in far-off places, it's something real and present that already has hard-to-predict impacts on wildlife in our own back gardens in the UK." "Stephen Price, a researcher at University College London and the Zoological Society of London, said in a press release.
"A number of scientists have already alluded to the fact that climate change could increase the spread of the disease, but this is one of the first studies that provides strong evidence of the impact climate change on wildlife diseases, and helps explain how to facilitate the spread of ranavirus across the UK, "said Price.
Price and its research partners suggest that adding wood logs, vegetation and other types of shady structures to frog habitat could help amphibians stay cool and avoid infections.
"Many studies of amphibian diseases can not do more than say" we have a problem, "said Trenton Garner, a researcher at the ZSL Zoology Institute. "This research offers a number of options to mitigate the effects, however, it is of course only a short-term solution.If we do not slow down and do not reverse the change climate driven by humans, we can unfortunately hope that the situation worsens our amphibians. "
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