Chytrid Pathogen and threat to Amphibians

At the forefront of the current biodiversity crisis, amphibian populations are undergoing unprecedented declines and extinctions. Notably, two chytrid fungi species have been found to infect a wide variety of amphibian hosts causing the disease chytridiomycosis. Since its first association with mass mortalities in Australian and Central American frogs in 1998, the amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has been identified as a culprit in amphibian population declines all around the world. A related, yet highly divergent chytrid pathogen, Batrachochytrium salimandrivorans, has recently gained notoriety as it has been found to infect salamander species in northwestern Europe. In this talk, I will summarize what is known about these chytrid fungi ecology, natural history, and impacts on amphibians as well as the research conducted in the Blaustein Laboratory at Oregon State University.