Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity

By B. Scheele, F. Pasmans, L. Skerratt, L. Berger, A. Martel, W. Beukema, A. Acevedo, P. Burrowes, Tamilie Carvalho, A. Catenazzi and 31 more. Science, 2019

1,083 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The demise of amphibians? Rapid spread of disease is a hazard in our interconnected world. The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was identified in amphibian populations about 20 years ago and has caused death and species extinction at a global scale. Scheele et al. found that the fungus has caused declines in amphibian populations everywhere except at its origin in Asia (see the Perspective by Greenberg and Palen). A majority of species and populations are still experiencing decline, but there is evidence of limited recovery in some species. The analysis also suggests some conditions that predict resilience. Science, this issue p. 1459; see also p. 1386 A quantitative assessment reveals the effects of chytridiomycosis on amphibian communities worldwide. Anthropogenic trade and development have broken down dispersal barriers, facilitating the spread of diseases that threaten Earth’s biodiversity. We present a global, quantitative assessment of the amphibian chytridiomycosis panzootic, one of the most impactful examples of disease spread, and demonstrate its role in the decline of at least 501 amphibian species over the past half-century, including 90 presumed extinctions. The effects of chytridiomycosis have been greatest in large-bodied, range-restricted anurans in wet climates in the Americas and Australia. Declines peaked in the 1980s, and only 12% of declined species show signs of recovery, whereas 39% are experiencing ongoing decline. There is risk of further chytridiomycosis outbreaks in new areas. The chytridiomycosis panzootic represents the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease.

Subfields: Genetics, Global and Planetary Change, Infectious Diseases

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ad1f4d6e54c3761f6f1e13d13a596815a1319f39

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Citations in the corpus

Ongoing declines for the world’s amphibians in the face of emerging threats (2023, positive): “Subsequent studies support that the disease chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendroba-tidis , was most likely responsible for many enigmatic declines 8–12 .”
Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction (2020, positive): “The principal culprit in the disappearance of so many amphibians so rapidly is a chytrid fungus, sometimes spread from place to place as a result of human activities (29); this parasite affects populations weakened by climate disruption particularly rapidly (30).”
Insect Declines in the Anthropocene. (2020, background): “Tropical deforestation has been linked to population declines and extinctions of many plants and vertebrates (23, 80, 157).”
Integral chain management of wildlife diseases (2020, background): “Of all known pathogens, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has caused the most prominent loss of vertebrate diversity ever recorded, with extinctions or declines in 500 amphibian species in Australia and the Americas (Scheele et al., 2019).”