Journal Article

Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming

Masters, Karen L., La Marca, Enrique, Still, Christopher J., Foster, Pru N., Sánchez-Azofeifa, G. Arturo, Bustamante, Martín R., Merino-Viteri, Andrés, Consuegra, Jamie A., Young, Bruce E., Alan Pounds, J., Fogden, Michael P. L., Ron, Santiago R., Coloma, Luis A., Puschendorf, Robert

2006

Overview

As the Earth warms, many species are likely to disappear, often because of changing disease dynamics. Here we show that a recent mass extinction associated with pathogen outbreaks is tied to global warming. Seventeen years ago, in the mountains of Costa Rica, the Monteverde harlequin frog ( Atelopus sp.) vanished along with the golden toad ( Bufo periglenes ). An estimated 67% of the 110 or so species of Atelopus , which are endemic to the American tropics, have met the same fate, and a pathogenic chytrid fungus ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ) is implicated. Analysing the timing of losses in relation to changes in sea surface and air temperatures, we conclude with ‘very high confidence’ (> 99%, following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) that large-scale warming is a key factor in the disappearances. We propose that temperatures at many highland localities are shifting towards the growth optimum of Batrachochytrium , thus encouraging outbreaks. With climate change promoting infectious disease and eroding biodiversity, the urgency of reducing greenhouse-gas concentrations is now undeniable. Frogs can't stand the heat The Monteverde harlequin frog became a cause célèbre in the debate on global warming and biodiversity when it, together with the golden toad, disappeared from Costa Rican forests in the 1980s. Some claimed global warming as the cause; others that deforestation had damaged the habitat. A new analysis that links the extinction of these and many other amphibians endemic to the American tropics to changes in sea surface and air temperatures may prove conclusive in this round of the debate. The probable agent of the amphibians' demise has been identified too: the warming trend has benefited a fungal pathogen called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , the cause of chytridiomycosis, and tipped the balance against survival of its hosts.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Air temperature / Altitude / Amphibia / Amphibians / Amphibians - microbiology / Amphibians - physiology / Animal diseases / Animal, plant and microbial ecology / Animals / Anura / Applied ecology / Atelopus / Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis / Biodiversity / Biological and medical sciences / Bufo periglenes / Bufonidae - microbiology / Bufonidae - physiology / Climate change / Costa Rica / Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution / Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates / Endangered & extinct species / Endemic species / Epidemics / Freshwater / Frogs / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Global warming / Greenhouse Effect / Greenhouses / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humidity / Infectious diseases / Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / Mass extinctions / Models, Biological / Mountains / multidisciplinary / Outbreaks / Pathogens / Population Dynamics / Reptilia. Amphibia / Risk / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Species extinction / Temperature / Terrestrial environment, soil, air / Toads / Trees - physiology / Tropical environments