It’s not easy being green. Frogs, salamanders, and other amphibian species face extinction, due in part to a mysterious parasitic fungus. Now, two studies shed light on its spread and toll.
The global bullfrog trade, which sends millions of frogs each year to the United States, mostly for their meaty legs, may fuel the parasite’s spread and create perfect conditions for a superbug, according to a paper coming out in the next print issue of Molecular Ecology. And a second study, published this week (August 12) in Nature Climate Change, suggests that the increased temperature variability caused by climate change may worsen the parasite's impact.
“For whatever reason, there’s a greater movement of the fungus than in the past,” said Vanderbilt University School of Medicine microbiologist and immunologist Louise-Rollins Smith, who was not involved in either study. “It’s going into areas where it’s never been before, where there are fewer ...
