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Crayfish Have Been Secretly Spreading a Deadly Frog Epidemic
Around the world, the decline of hundreds of amphibian species has been linked to the mysterious and deadly chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendobatidis. More than 300 species are nearly extinct because of this epidemic, and many more have probably already been lost to the disease.
Until now, researchers thought the the fungus occurred only in amphibians, since no studies demonstrated that the fungus can grow on live non-amphibian hosts. National Geographic explains the perplexing situation:
One of the biggest mysteries is how chytrid can persist in a frogless pond. Researchers saw it happen many times and were perplexed: If all of a pond’s amphibians were wiped out, and a few frogs or salamanders came back and recolonized the pond, they would also die—even though there were no amphibians in the pond to harbor the disease.
New research refutes the assumption that only amphibians can carry the disease, however. Field collections in Louisiana and Colorado found that up to 29 percent of the live crayfish recovered were harboring the fungus. The team also found that crayfish presence was a strong predictor of amphibian infection with the fungus.
Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnew…z2HDiXdchj
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2013-01-06 11:18:37
Source: http://yeoldefalseflag.com/thread-crayfish-have-been-secretly-spreading-a-deadly-frog-epidemic
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