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Newts and Salamanders victims of deadly Flesh Eating Epidemic

November 1, 2014 By Germaine Hicks 1 Comment

newts-and-salamanders-flesh-eating-epidemic

A deadly fungus is on the loose and eating away the skins of newts and salamanders just like the frog population not many years ago. This has become a serious problem because the fungus, called as Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans has already wiped out wild populations of fire salamanders in the Netherlands. Its mode of operandi is infecting and eating away the animal’s skin, which they use to breath, eventually killing them in the end.

A more closely related fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been previously found to be capable of infecting some 520 amphibian species and also has sent some species of frogs and salamanders into extinction.

A dozen or more European and North American salamander and newt species have been found to be quite prone to the earlier fungus i.e. Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans. Scientists have tested more than 5000 amphibians from four continents, publishing their results today in the journal Science.

Karen Lips, one of the leading experts involved in the study, warned that the fungus would soon reach America. “If scientists and policy makers can work together on this, we have a rare opportunity to stop an epidemic from spreading around the globe with potentially deadly effect,” she said.

Along with her colleague Dr. Lips has already screened more 1,400 frogs, salamanders and newts from various ponds around North and South America. Although they haven’t found the fungus but they are of the view that it is not about if, rather when the fungus does reaches the Americas.

It is particularly concerning because Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans can be carried by Chinese fire belly newt and about 2.3 million of them were imported into the U.S., between 2001 and 2009, alone to be sold as pets.

It is important to note that the salamander population of the U.S. is the most diverse in the world, with many species already on the endangered list. The most potential effect of the decline in salamander population is the rapid climate change because they prey on animals that release more carbon into the atmosphere.

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: Amphibians, Flesh Eating, frogs, Newts, Salamander, Science

Study Reveals; Skin Eating Fungus can Annihilate Salamander

November 1, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Fungus- a big threat for Salamanders

Researchers found out a fungus while examining the massive decline in Netherland’s fire salamanders.

The fungus which basically belongs to East Asia traveled all the way to Europe. The researchers suggest that Bs reached Europe with the help of imported amphibians.  It is originally from the family of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) .It was the chief reason behind the extinction of amphibians such as frogs, salamanders and toads. The fungus has nearly removed 40 percent of the amphibians in some particular areas.

An Martel, a researcher of Ghent University along with his colleagues analyzed around 5,000 species of amphibians.  They accumulated these species from four different continents. The chief purpose of this study is to discover the danger Bs infection create for amphibians.

The study revealed that Bs infection is extremely deadly for salamanders. They have killed a large amount of salamanders in the past several years. However, it is not that hazardous for other amphibians like frog, caecilians and toads. They are commonly found in the Eastern North America and Pacific Northwest.

An Martel, the lead author informed that majority of the species which interact with Bs die in a short time period of two weeks. The mortality rate in salamanders increase up to 99 percent soon after this infection.

Unfortunately, the experts have failed to form any obstacle in order to stop the growth of this fungus in Europe.

The report is published in October 31st edition of Journal Science.

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: Amphibians, Bs, Europe, extinction, frogs, fungus, Ghent University, Journal Science, mortality rate, Salamanders, species, study, toads

Fatal Fungal Infection Threatening Salamanders Might Spreading Through Pet Trade

October 30, 2014 By Germaine Hicks 1 Comment

Newts at risk as infection spreads

The scientists revealed Thursday, a rising infection, which is similar to the one that has caused the extinction of hundreds of frog and toad species worldwide is now killing salamanders in Europe and spreading towards the United States, with catastrophic effects.

The study is published in the ‘Science’ journal. An international team of 27 researchers said, “globalization and a lack of biosecurity” along with the importation of the fire-bellied newt in the pet trade with Asia are the major causes of the disease.

Dr. An Martel of Ghent University in Belgium and a lead researcher said, “Both Europe and the United States needed to start screening amphibians in the pet trade. When animals are traded they should be screened. It should involve the world.”

Vance T. Vredenburg of San Francisco State University, one of the scientists who has sounded the alarm about the extinction of hundreds of frog and toad species worldwide over the last four decades said, “Other scientists agreed. We need to pay attention to this study.”

“We need to think about biosecurity not just in terms of humans and food that we eat and crops that we grow, but about functioning ecosystems,” he added.

The co-author of the 2008 study was Dr. Vredenburg, who described the extinction of frog species as a prime example of what some scientists call the 6th extinction, a mass death of species going on now and caused by humans.

The culprit, in the case of the frog disappearance is a fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and it was not identified, until decades, even after the extinctions had begun. The researchers are still unaware that from where it was originated.

Dr. Vredenburg said, the effects of that fungus, symbolize “the worst case in recorded history of a single pathogen affecting vertebrates,” causing an “extinction rate 40,000 times higher than in the last 350 million years for amphibians.”

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, the fungus killing salamanders and newts, is of the same genus, and also kills animals by infecting the skin. However, this time, “We found it early enough to have a chance. The Titanic knows there’s an iceberg out there,” Dr. Vredenburg said.

The researchers revealed that the United States, having the greatest biodiversity of salamanders in the world, is still intact by the infection, and many of the species are already threatened or endangered. The animals are seldom noticed, but are an integral part of forest and aquatic ecosystems, as predators and prey.

The decline in the salamanders species could eventually affect climate change as the proliferation of some of the creatures that they used to eat could cause the greater release of carbon into the atmosphere.

Dr. Martel and his fellow colleagues first identified the fungus a year ago, and described its role in the deaths of fire salamanders in Europe. In the recent study, they investigated its origin, presence around the world and the vulnerability of different species to it.

The researchers experimentally infected 44 species of salamanders and newts (salamanders live on land, newts in the water) in the laboratory,. They wrote, “41 of them rapidly died.” It did not affect frogs and toads.

Moreover, numerous Asian species were defiant, and molecular biology studies of DNA suggested that there may be a reservoir of the fungus in Asian newts popular in the aquarium trade.

The evidence of the fungus was found in amphibians in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan, where the animals were not affected, and in the Netherlands and Belgium, where it killed numerous populations. Dr. Martel identified the shipping of live newts for the aquarium trade as the way the fungus spread.

Further investigation of the study was needed to prove that the pet trade was the culprit in the disease’s spread, since it was possible that the fungus was wind-borne, or spread by migrating birds, James Collins, at Arizona State University, who has studied the spread of fungal disease in frogs said.

Although, it was apparent that the fungus and the lack of screening in the shipping of live animals posed a major threat to salamanders in the United States and Europe, Dr. Collins said. Disease screening exists for threats to agriculture, he said, but not for animals in the pet or aquarium trade.

He further added, “International and federal agencies such as the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can act, when something like Ebola emerges. We need similar efforts here too.”

The University of Maryland’s Karen R. Lips, one of the co-authors of the Science paper met Thursday with Fish and Wildlife Officials to talk about the new fungus. She said that there were now bills in Congress that could enable the Fish and Wildlife Service to screen for infected wildlife. “If Congress wanted to, they could take action,” she said.

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: 2008, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, CDC, Dr. Collins, Dr. Martel, Dr. Vredenburg, ebola, Europe, frogs, James Collins, Japan, Salamanders, San Francisco State University, Science journal, Thailand, Toad, United States, Vietnam, WHO

Scientist Catches Puppy Sized Spider

October 20, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 2 Comments

Goilath-Puppy-sized-Spider

Piotr Naskrecki, a wildlife photographer was taking a night walk in the Guyana’s rainforest and suddenly heard a rustling sound like something was creeping under his feet. Eventually, when he turned around with his flashlight on, he saw a puppy-sized animal rustling around. The excitement uttered, when he found the creature turned out to be a Goliath spider. “When I turned on the flashlight, I couldn’t quite understand what I was seeing,” Naskrecki, from Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, stated.

Goliath Spider, also known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), is supposedly the world’s largest spider as per the Guinness World Records. The leg span of this huge arachnid spider can reach up to a foot 30 centimeters, or about the size of “a child’s forearm,” with a body the size of “a large fist,” Naskrecki claimed. Moreover, the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. (170 grams) about as much as a young puppy, the scientist further explained.

Prickly hairs and 2-inch Fangs

Goliath spider has massive sharp fangs, which could inflict deep wounds, though the venom of the Goliath bird eating spider isn’t deadly to humans. “I found that it was rubbing its hind legs against its abdomen- an action,” Naskrecki stated. But afterwards, he realized the spider was sending out a cloud of hairs with microscopic barbs on them. It has been known that when these hairs get in the eyes or other mucous membranes, they can turn out to be “extremely painful and itchy,” and can stay there for days, he said.

Bird eater or mostly harmless?

Naskrecki told that, regardless of its name, the birdeater doesn’t usually eat birds, though it is certainly capable of killing small mammals. They will essentially attack anything that they encounter. Usually, the Goliath spider hunts at night, and feeds on small animals including insects, frogs and earthworms. These spiders are also hard to find. “I’ve been working in the tropics in South America for almost the past 15 years, but I only saw the spider three times,” he added.

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: Bird eater, birds, earthworms, frogs, Goliath spider, guinness world records, Insects, mammals, massive spider, Piotr Naskrecki, Wildlife photographer

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