So global warming is not to blame after all
Scientists have traced a deadly fungus responsible for killing frogs, toads and newts worldwide to the Korean peninsula, sparking new calls for a halt to the international amphibian pet trade. A dangerous infectious disease with the potential to drive species to extinction, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is also known as chytrid fungus.
It has already decimated more than 200 amphibian species and rewired echo systems all over the world. Chytrid is passed from animal to animal and spreads rapidly in the wild, causing catastrophic mortality and declines in some species, while others are less affected. The fungus causes a disease called chytridiomycosis, which attacks the animal's skin, affecting their ability to regulate water and electrolyte levels and leading to heart failure.
'Biologists have known since the 1990s that Bd was behind the decline of many amphibian species, but until now we haven't been able to identify exactly where it came from,' said Simon O'Hanlon, of the department of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, co-author of the report in the journal Science.............Read more
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