Category: scientific paper

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2022 Publications

Here are some of the papers that MLRG members contributed to in 2022:

[PDF] Host density has limited effects on pathogen invasion, disease-induced declines, and within-host infection dynamics across a landscape of disease. Journal of Animal Ecology.
Wilber, M. Q., R. A. Knapp, T. C. Smith, and C. J. Briggs.

[PDF] Rana sierrae (Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged Frog). Behavior and Diet. Herpetological Review. Smith, T. C., R. A. Knapp, J. Imperato, K. Miller, and D. Rose. 

[link] Effectiveness of antifungal treatments during chytridiomycosis epizootics in populations of an endangered frog. PeerJ. Knapp, R. A., M. B. Joseph, T. C. Smith, E. E. Hegeman, V. T. Vredenburg, J. E. Erdman Jr, D. M. Boiano, A. J. Jani, and C. J. Briggs.

[PDF] Localized carry‐over effects of pond drying on survival, growth, and pathogen defenses in amphibians. Ecosphere. Le Sage, E.H., Ohmer, M.E., LaBumbard, B.C., Altman, K.A., Reinert, L.K., Bednark, J.G., Bletz, M.C., Inman, B., Lindauer, A., McDonnell, N.B., Parker, S.K. Skerlac S.M., Wantman, T., Rollins-Smith, L.A., Woodhams, D.C., Voyles, J., and Richards-Zawacki, C.L.

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New publication: Sierra Lakes Inventory Project data.

Exciting news: we just pushed the Sierra Lakes Inventory Project data set to the Environmental Data Initiative data portal! Roland Knapp ran the SLIP project from 1995-2002 and collected data on >8,000 Sierra Nevada water bodies. We owe Claire Pavelka our gratitude for making this data publication a reality. Claire was a fellow with the Environmental Data Initiative summer data science fellowship program in 2020.

Link to the dataset here.

Citation:
Knapp, R.A., C. Pavelka, E.E. Hegeman, and T.C. Smith. 2020. The Sierra Lakes Inventory Project: Non-Native fish and community composition of lakes and ponds in the Sierra Nevada, California ver 2. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/d835832d7fd00d9e4466e44eea87fab3

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New paper published in Ecosphere

A paper entitled “Disease and climate effects on individuals drive post-reintroduction population dynamics of an endangered amphibian” by Max and Roland was published in Ecosphere today. The accompanying UCSB story is available here. Although developed for mountain yellow-legged frogs, the hierarchical Bayesian hidden Markov model they developed might be applicable to other species impacted by the amphibian chytrid fungus. 

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New article on ranavirus in Sierran frogs

“Ranaviruses infect mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosa and Rana sierrae) threatened by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis” by Tom, Roland, and Angela Picco (United States Fish and Wildlife Service) appears in Herpetological Conservation and Biology. The paper (available here) documents the presence of a ranavirus in a small number of mountain yellow-legged frog populations. Despite causing occasional tadpole mortality events, ranaviruses play a small role in large scale mountain yellow-legged frog declines, especially when compared to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

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New study: frogs in Yosemite are recovering

A paper by Roland and colleagues was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. The accompanying UCSB story is available here. The study shows that despite the ongoing presence of introduced fish and the amphibian chytrid fungus, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs are recovering across Yosemite National Park. This recovery is occurring because some lakes have been restored to their original fishless condition, and frogs are developing increased resistance to fungal infection. These results suggest that some amphibians may be more resilient than is often assumed, and with appropriate management, declines of such species may be reversible. That is great news!

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Ecological consequences of frog declines

Read the new paper here. Published today in the journal Ecosphere, Tom, Roland, and Cherie Briggs (UC Santa Barbara) describe some of the ways in which mountain yellow-legged frog declines impact alpine lake communities. Contrary to expectations, the large scale loss of these frogs is not associated with secondary extinctions or changes in structure and composition of the benthic macroinvertebrate community, which contains most of the prey and competitor species for frogs and tadpoles. Notably, these results differ from 1) the consequences of frog declines in other ecosystems, and 2) the consequences of fish introductions in the Sierra. Although impacts of frog declines on the taxa examined in this study were small, mountain yellow-legged frog declines are associated with secondary declines in other species, like gartersnakes.

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