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- Scientists have discovered that the frogs of the El Copé forest seemed to have found a way to live with the chytrid (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), a fungus that still devastated amphibian populations in other parts of the world.
- The team found that surviving frog species had similar survival rates, whether they were infected with chytrid or not.
- The results offer the possibility that frog communities, albeit modified, may stabilize after these catastrophic events.
Frogs in a tropical rainforest in Panama come out better than we thought after a devastating mushroom reduced numbers and wiped out entire species about ten years ago. .
In a study published on October 3 in the journal Ecological applications, a team of scientists reports that the frogs of the El Copé forest – at least the species that survived the epidemic that began in 2004 – found a way to live with the chytrid (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), a fungus that continues to destroy amphibian populations in other parts of the world.
"Our results are really promising because they lead us to conclude that the El Copé frog community is stabilizing and not disappearing," said Graziella DiRenzo, a disease ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the main author of the article, said in a statement.
Biologists know that the chytrid has contributed to the worldwide disappearance of amphibian species. At El Copé, about 50% of native frog species have disappeared. But what happens after such cataclysmic events remains a mystery.
"This is a big problem for the world's chytrid," said DiRenzo, who completed the work as part of his PhD at the University of Maryland. "Before this study, we did not know much about the communities that remain after an epidemic. In some areas, it's still a black box.
But scientists have been studying El Cope's frogs for a long time, making it a natural laboratory for studying the dynamics between animals and pathogens. Between 2010 and 2014, DiRenzo and his colleagues visited a 2-square-kilometer (0.77-square-mile) field site each year to test for the presence of chytrids. The team then used a statistical model to extrapolate its results to the larger population.
They found that infected and uninfected frogs survived at about the same rate: 96%. In addition, the most infected frogs seemed to be able to control the growth of the fungus.
"Our study found that even though there are many infected individuals, about 98% of them are at very low levels," said Karen Lips, a zoologist at the University of Toronto. University of Maryland, which has recently been studying interactions between chytrids and amphibians. decades, said in the statement.
The lips said that at the beginning of the outbreak in El Cope, some species carrying the fungus were more likely to spread the disease to other frogs.
"But some of these species have now disappeared and the whole ecosystem is totally different," she said. "It's almost not comparable to what was before."
The evidence the team has revealed may indicate that the frog community has stabilized, suggesting hope that frogs from other parts of the world hit by the chytrid could also adapt to the pathogen.
"The fact that some species have survived is the most important thing," said Lips. "If enough species of frogs in a given place can survive and persist, then hopefully someday, a new vibrant frog community will replace what has been lost."
Banner image of a frog of the genus diasporus in El Cope, Panama, by Graziella DiRenzo.
Quote
DiRenzo, G.V., Zipkin, E.F., Grant, E.H.C., Royle, J.A., Longo, A.V., Zamudio, K.R., and Lips, K.R. (2018). Eco-friendly rescue promotes host-pathogen coexistence. Ecological applications.
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