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Emerging infectious disease and the loss of biodiversity in a Neotropical amphibian community

Lips, Karen R. and Brem, Forrest and Brenes, Roberto and Reeve, John D. and Alford, Ross A. and Voyles, Jamie and Carey, Cynthia and Livo, Lauren and Pessier, Allan P. and Collins, James P. (2006) Emerging infectious disease and the loss of biodiversity in a Neotropical amphibian community. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103 (9). pp. 3165-3170. ISSN 1091-6490

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Abstract

Pathogens rarely cause extinctions of host species, and there are few examples of a pathogen changing species richness and diversity of an ecological community by causing local extinctions across a wide range of species. We report the link between the rapid appearance of a pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in an amphibian community at El Cope´ , Panama, and subsequent mass mortality and loss of amphibian biodiversity across eight families of frogs and salamanders. We describe an outbreak of chytridiomycosis in Panama and argue that this infectious disease has played an important role in amphibian population declines. The high virulence and large number of potential hosts of this emerging infectious disease threaten global amphibian diversity.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	extinction, fungus, tropics, chytridiomycosis, panama, frog declines, amphibian declines
Subjects:	270000 Biological Sciences > 270700 Ecology and Evolution > 270708 Conservation and Biodiversity 300000 Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences > 300800 Environmental Sciences > 300805 Conservation
ID Code:	1621
Deposited By:	Ross Alford
Deposited On:	27 Aug 2007
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2008 02:06

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