THE CHYTRID BLINDERS 2.0: HOW ARE WE DOING?

CHYTRID BLINDERS 2.0

Abstract

Amphibians are declining around the world and infectious diseases are thought to play a key role in these declines, along with habitat destruction and other environmental factors.  Since the late 1900s, several emerging infections have been identified in amphibians. The chytrids, of which there are two known to affect amphibians, Batrachochytrium dendtrobatids, and B. salamandrivorans; and ranaviruses are perhaps the most well-known and studied. There are also other, lesser known and studied pathogenic agents such as Perkinsea spp. and herpesviruses; that have emerged in approximately the same timeline, which may also be contributing to amphibian population dynamics. In this piece we examine the progress that has been made over the past decade in understanding ‘The Big Three’ and specifically how the emergence of B. salamandrivorans has brought together much of the amphibian disease world in the last half of the 2010s.