By Celia Stevens, Rex Mack, Jeremiah Cooney

What is the Reptile and Amphibians team?

The Reps and Amps (short for Reptiles and Amphibians) team is one of the longest running studies involving the Forman Rainforest Project, collecting data in the rainforests in Costa Rica. Hopefully, with the data that we collect about reptiles and amphibians, we can contribute to the study (and hopefully the cure) to chytrid fungus. 

What is Chytrid Fungus? 

Chytrid Fungus, more specifically Bd, is a chytrid fungus that appears to be capable of infecting most of the world’s amphibian species. Many of those species that develop the disease are linked to devastating population declines and species extinctions.

http://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/chytrid-fungus/

Bd is a very important chytrid fungus because it appears to be capable of infecting most of the world’s approximately 6,000 amphibian species and many of those species develop the disease chytridiomycosis which is linked to devastating population declines and species extinctions

In fact, infection with Bd has been called “the worst infectious disease ever recorded among vertebrates in terms of the number of species impacted, and it’s propensity to drive them to extinction (Gascon et al, 2007). Amphibian population declines due to chytridiomycosis can occur very rapidly— sometimes over a just a few weeks (Lips et al., 2006) and disproportionately eliminate species that are rare, specialized and endemic (e.g. those species that are most unique) (Smith et al., 2009).

Infection with Bd occurs inside the cells of the outer skin layers that contain large amounts of a protein called “keratin”. Keratin is the material that makes the outside of the skin tough and resistant to injury and is also what hair, feathers and claws are made of. With chytridiomycosis, the skin becomes very thick due to a microscopic change in the skin that pathologists call “hyperplasia and hyperkeratosis”. These changes in the skin are deadly to amphibians because— unlike most other animals— amphibians “drink” water and absorb important salts (electrolytes) like sodium and potassium through the skin and not through the mouth. Abnormal electrolyte levels as the result of Bd-damaged skin cause the heart to stop beating and the death of the animal (Voyles et al., 2009).