Tag: disease

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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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Mountain yellow-legged frog restoration amid a wildlife pandemic.

California’s mountain yellow-legged frogs are endangered. One reason is an ongoing wildlife pandemic (or, a panzootic). Worldwide, amphibians are threatened by a disease called chytridiomycosis, caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. This disease has caused declines in frog and salamander species across six continents, including here in California. In a public seminar on Thursday 12 November 2020, our own Mountain Lakes Research Group Principal Investigator Tom Smith, PhD described some of the conservation tools that we study. Our goal is to help mountain yellow-legged frog populations persist in a landscape with widespread disease.

The recorded seminar is available to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKf_rnxbSEvv_dp5lZtPBQ

This seminar was part of the UC Santa Barbara Natural Reserve System seminar series. Our research group is based out of the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, which is part of the Natural Reserve System.

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Researchers and agencies work together to stop Bd epizootics in wild mountain yellow-legged frog populations.

Our work on Bd mitigation and cooperation with California and U.S. wildlife agencies was recently described on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s blog, in a series on conservation in action. Thanks to Meghan Snow for the write-up, and to Jill Seymour, Isaac Chellman, and many others for their collaboration on this project. See the link below:

https://medium.com/conservation-service-in-action/fighting-chytrid-how-do-biologists-fight-pandemics-in-the-animal-kingdom-675a5dc99af2

Frogs released after treatment.
Mountain yellow-legged frogs are released into pens after a round of antifungal treatment to reduce infections with the amphibian chytrid fungus. credit: Roland Knapp.
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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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