Is the Frog-Killing Chytrid Fungus Fueled by Climate Fluctuations?


	Is the Frog-Killing Chytrid Fungus Fueled by Climate Fluctuations?

murieleileen

8-17-2009 10:27 AM

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tags:

froga, fungus, climate change

murieleileen says:

Laboratory research reexamines the controversial link between climate change and the chytrid fungus that has been killing frogs around the world

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8-17-2009 10:52 AM

Kelika

They are our mining canaries, aren't they? I wonder if there is some fungus out there growing and mutating that might have the same devastating impact on us.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/ed11a1f9-c2e5-414c-8bd6-34e08efc17e5/C00821BA-0DD6-4447-9F62-0755A53E085F/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpape/2733391373/" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpape/2733391373/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.flickr.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpape/2733391373/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.flickr.com/img/C3AD8899-912F-469A-A635-940987F1EAAB" alt="Atelopus_zeteki_2_-_Buffalo_Zoo by dpape." /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations" href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations" style="font-size: 11px;">www.scientificamerican.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations"><P class="caption" id="articleImgCap"><STRONG>FROG GONE:</STRONG> The Panamanian golden frog (<I>Atelopus zeteki</I>) is one of many amphibian species that have been devastated by the chytrid fungus, but scientists are still debating what role, if any, climate has played.<BR /><SPAN>DPAPE/FLICKR</SPAN></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations"><DIV>This much is clear: frogs are dying.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations"><DIV>
One third of the world's 6,260 amphibian species are globally <A href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=world-without-frogs">threatened or extinct</A>. The primary threat to their survival is still <A href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=perennial-problems-loom-large-for-t-2009-07-01">habitat destruction</A>, which impacts 61 percent of known amphibian species. But <A href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/topic.cfm?id=climate">climate</A> change and the deadly <A href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=amphibian-ark">chytrid fungus</A> could potentially take the lead over the next century—or at least make things much, much worse for frogs, <A href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=salamanders-slipping-away-global-wa-2009-02-12">salamanders</A> and their legless, subterranean cousins known as caecilians.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations">How much worse? It depends, in part, on whether climate change has the potential to spur—or slow—the growth of the <A href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=amphibians-suffering-unpr">chytrid fungus</A>,</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations">Although more than <A href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/amphibian/holland-text/3">200 species</A> have been diagnosed with the pathogen, 1,034 have been deemed "susceptible," </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations">And that's where things get tricky.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations">Some scientists</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations">believe</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations"> Others</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=frog-killing-chytrid-fungus-climate-fluctuations"> say</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/C00821BA-0DD6-4447-9F62-0755A53E085F/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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