Effect of season and temperature on mortality in amphibians due to chytridiomycosis

Australian Veterinary Journal - Tập 82 Số 7 - Trang 434-439 - 2004
Lee Berger1,2, Rick Speare2, HB Hines3, Gerry Marantelli4, AD Hyatt1, KR McDonald5, Lee F. Skerratt6, V Olsen1, John Mason Clarke7, Graeme R. Gillespie8, MJ Mahony9, Noemie L. M. Sheppard10, Craig Williams11, MJ Tyler11
1Australian Animal Health Laboratory, CSIRO, Geelong, Victoria 3220
2School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811
3Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Conservation Resource Unit, Moggill, Queensland 4070
4Amphibian Research Centre, North Coburg, Victoria 3058
5Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Atherton, Queensland 4883
6School of Biomedical Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811
7Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Management Unit, Rockhampton, Queensland 4701
8Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084
9Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308
10New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales 2450
11Department of Environmental Biology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005

Tóm tắt

Objective To investigate the distribution and incidence of chytridiomycosis in eastern Australian frogs and to examine the effects of temperature on this disease.

Design A pathological survey and a transmission experiment were conducted.

Procedure Diagnostic pathology examinations were performed on free‐living and captive, ill and dead amphibians collected opportunistically from eastern Australia between October 1993 and December 2000. We conducted a transmission experiment in the laboratory to investigate the effects of temperature: eight great barred frogs (Mixophyes fasciolatus) exposed to zoospores of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and six unexposed frogs were housed individually in each of three rooms held at 17°C, 23°C and 27°C.

Results Chytridiomycosis was the cause of death or morbidity for 133 (55.2%) of 241 free‐living amphibians and for 66 (58.4%) of 113 captive amphibians. This disease occurred in 34 amphibian species, was widespread around the eastern seaboard of Australia and affected amphibians in a variety of habitats at high and low altitudes on or between the Great Dividing Range and the coast. The incidence of chytridiomycosis was higher in winter, with 53% of wild frogs from Queensland and New South Wales dying in July and August. Other diseases were much less common and were detected mostly in spring and summer. In experimental infections, lower temperatures enhanced the pathogenicity of B dendrobatidis in M fasciolatus. All 16 frogs exposed to B dendrobatidis at 17°C and 23°C died, whereas 4 of 8 frogs exposed at 27°C survived. However, the time until death for the frogs that died at 27°C was shorter than at the lower temperatures. Infections in survivors were eliminated by 98 days.

Conclusion Chytridiomycosis is a major cause of mortality in free‐living and captive amphibians in Australia and mortality rate increases at lower temperatures.

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Australian Veterinary Journal

Tập 82 Số 7

434-439

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