A deadly disease that slowly eats the skin of living frogs and salamanders is responsible for the decline or extinction of at least 501 amphibian species, according to researchers who claim it’s responsible for the greatest documented loss of biodiversity by a single pathogen.
, is the culmination of a comprehensive survey by 41 researchers from around the world.
According to the study, the infectious disease affecting frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts is called chytridiomycosis and is caused by two fungal species, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans . To make matters worse, the lethal pathogen is remarkably adept at spreading through contact or by water. The spores of the disease have the ability to swim short distances and can even live outside of a host for weeks, months, or even years at a time before it infects.
Of the 501 affected species, the researchers note that 91 of them have become completely extinct in the wild while another 124 species have declined by more than 90 per cent. However, researchers said it’s difficult to know exactly how many species have been affected by the disease because they didn’t have enough data about earlier die-offs in the 1950s and 1960s to include them in the study.
The researchers also recommend increased vigilance to curtail the trade of wild amphibians. It’s believed the pet trade has greatly contributed to the spread of the fungal disease in regions where the pathogen was previously unknown.
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