| emerging infectious disease and the loss of biodiversity in a neotropical amphibian community. | pathogens rarely cause extinctions of host species, and there are few examples of a pathogen changing species richness and diversity of an ecological community by causing local extinctions across a wide range of species. we report the link between the rapid appearance of a pathogenic chytrid fungus batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in an amphibian community at el copé, panama, and subsequent mass mortality and loss of amphibian biodiversity across eight families of frogs and salamanders. we describ ... | 2006 | 16481617 |
| chytridiomycosis and amphibian population declines continue to spread eastward in panama. | chytridiomycosis is a globally emerging disease of amphibians and the leading cause of population declines and extirpations at species-diverse montane sites in central america. we continued long-term monitoring efforts for the presence of the fungal pathogen batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (bd) and for amphibian populations at two sites in western panama, and we began monitoring at three new sites to the east. population declines associated with chytridiomycosis emergence were detected at altos d ... | 2008 | 18807089 |
| batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infection patterns among panamanian amphibian species, habitats and elevations during epizootic and enzootic stages. | the pathogenic fungus batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (bd) has caused declines of many amphibian populations, yet the full course of the epizootic has rarely been observed in wild populations. we determined effects of elevation, habitat, and aquatic index (ai) on prevalence of infection among panamanian amphibians sampled along 2 elevational transects. amphibian populations on the santa fé transect (sft) had declined in 2002, while those on the el copé transect (ect) were healthy until september ... | 2008 | 18998584 |
| thermoregulatory behaviour affects prevalence of chytrid fungal infection in a wild population of panamanian golden frogs. | predicting how climate change will affect disease dynamics requires an understanding of how the environment affects host-pathogen interactions. for amphibians, global declines and extinctions have been linked to a pathogenic chytrid fungus, batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. using a combination of body temperature measurements and disease assays conducted before and after the arrival of b. dendrobatidis, this study tested the hypothesis that body temperature affects the prevalence of infection in a ... | 2010 | 19864287 |
| epidemic disease decimates amphibian abundance, species diversity, and evolutionary history in the highlands of central panama. | amphibian populations around the world are experiencing unprecedented declines attributed to a chytrid fungal pathogen, batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. despite the severity of the crisis, quantitative analyses of the effects of the epidemic on amphibian abundance and diversity have been unavailable as a result of the lack of equivalent data collected before and following disease outbreak. we present a community-level assessment combining long-term field surveys and dna barcode data describing ch ... | 2010 | 20643927 |
| effects of temperature and hydric environment on survival of the panamanian golden frog infected with a pathogenic chytrid fungus. | considerable controversy exists concerning whether or not climate changes (particularly global warming) are causing outbreaks of a lethal amphibian pathogen, the chytrid fungus batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (longcore, pessier & d.k. nichols 1999). in the present study, groups of panamanian golden frogs (atelopus zeteki dunn, 1993), a critically endangered amphibian thought to be nearly extinct in panama, were exposed to varying dosages of zoospores of batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, temperature ... | 2010 | 21392332 |