Plan to keep New Guinea's frogs safe from the species-destroying chytrid fungus
Date: June 3, 2019
Source: Macquarie University
New
Guinea is one of the only places in the world where frogs are safe from the
species-destroying chytrid fungus. An international team of scientists has
published a new paper that shows how to keep it that way, but they need help to
carry out their plan.
The
chytrid fungus has wiped out more than 90 frog species around the world, and
it's driving hundreds more towards extinction. New Guinea -- the world's
largest tropical island, and home to 6% of all known frog species -- is one of
the last remaining refuges from the deadly infection.
A team of
scientists led by researchers from Macquarie University and the University of
New England in Australia think they know how to keep the island's frogs safe,
but they need support to establish a long-term program of monitoring and
conservation.
Writing
in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, the group of 30
experts from Australia, the USA, China, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea calls
for urgent action.
"You
don't often spot a conservation disaster before it happens and get the chance
to stop it," says Deborah Bower of the University of New England in
Armidale, Australia, who is the first author of the article. "We know what
needs to be done."
The
infectious chytrid fungus has been described as the most destructive pathogen
known to science. It has destroyed more than 90 species of frog entirely and
caused declines in almost 500 more.
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