THE JOURNAL (Edmonton, Alberta) 23 September 05 THE JOURNAL (Edmonton, Alberta) 23 September 05 Fungus hops from Africa to threaten Alberta species (Hanneke Brooymans)
Edmonton: A fungus that may have spread from African frogs used in pregnancy tests is being found in declining amphibian populations worldwide, including frogs in Alberta.
An international summit on the conservation of amphibians held this week said the control and elimination of this fungal disease is critical to saving frogs, salamanders and other amphibians.
Almost one in three amphibian species around the world are threatened with extinction, according to last year's Global Amphibian Assessment.
In Alberta, only three of the province's 10 amphibian species are considered secure, said Robin Gutsell, a species-at-risk biologist for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.
The fungus, batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, causes the normally shiny, moist skin of an amphibian to thicken and turn a tan colour, said Dr. Trent Bollinger, a veterinarian with the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.
Bollinger said he first found the fungus on Alberta's northern leopard frogs in 1999. It has also been found in other provinces.
Scientists think the fungus may have travelled around the world on the backs of South African clawed frogs.
Live female frogs were used in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America in pregnancy testing in the 1930s and '40s. Women who thought they were pregnant would inject a urine sample under the skin of one of these frogs. If the frog ovulated, the woman was pregnant.
Thousands of these frogs were used each year. It's possible they escaped and spread the fungus they were carrying.
Biologists are not sure if this is how the fungus got to Alberta and what effect it has had on overall population levels.
"We only started looking for it in the late 1990s," Bollinger said. "Some researchers believe the fungus has contributed to amphibian decline, but it could be a combination of the fungus and environmental decline."
The northern leopard frogs that tested positive for the fungus are the focus of great concern in Alberta.
Abrupt population declines were first noted in the province in 1979. Since then, populations appear to have been wiped out over much of central Alberta and are absent or greatly reduced in southern Alberta.
It is officially considered threatened under the Wildlife Act, said Kris Kendell, a biologist with the Alberta Conservation Association.
"In 2005, a recovery team was formed and a recovery plan was drafted, but it's not approved yet," said Kendell, who teams up with provincial biologists on amphibian projects.
The plan includes habitat assessment, a population inventory, reintroduction and DNA work, and raising the public's awareness about the plight of the northern leopard frog.
A pilot leopard frog reintroduction program that began in 1999 had some success, Kendell said. The frogs were seen or heard at one of the reintroduction sites from 2001 to 2004, but this year not a peep was heard from them. This does not mean they are not there, Kendell said. They could be at a low density.
Still, there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
In 1997, the province and the conservation association initiated an amphibian monitoring program called Researching Amphibian Numbers in Alberta. But the number of sites monitored fell from six in 2004 to four this year, Gutsell said.
"Like most efforts in conservation, it seems funding is often a challenge," Kendell said.
"We get enough to keep going and we form partnerships to overcome any shortfalls."
(Hanneke Brooymans)
Edmonton: A fungus that may have spread from African frogs used in pregnancy tests is being found in declining amphibian populations worldwide, including frogs in Alberta.
An international summit on the conservation of amphibians held this week said the control and elimination of this fungal disease is critical to saving frogs, salamanders and other amphibians.
Almost one in three amphibian species around the world are threatened with extinction, according to last year's Global Amphibian Assessment.
In Alberta, only three of the province's 10 amphibian species are considered secure, said Robin Gutsell, a species-at-risk biologist for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.
The fungus, batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, causes the normally shiny, moist skin of an amphibian to thicken and turn a tan colour, said Dr. Trent Bollinger, a veterinarian with the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.
Bollinger said he first found the fungus on Alberta's northern leopard frogs in 1999. It has also been found in other provinces.
Scientists think the fungus may have travelled around the world on the backs of South African clawed frogs.
Live female frogs were used in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America in pregnancy testing in the 1930s and '40s. Women who thought they were pregnant would inject a urine sample under the skin of one of these frogs. If the frog ovulated, the woman was pregnant.
Thousands of these frogs were used each year. It's possible they escaped and spread the fungus they were carrying.
Biologists are not sure if this is how the fungus got to Alberta and what effect it has had on overall population levels.
"We only started looking for it in the late 1990s," Bollinger said. "Some researchers believe the fungus has contributed to amphibian decline, but it could be a combination of the fungus and environmental decline."
The northern leopard frogs that tested positive for the fungus are the focus of great concern in Alberta.
Abrupt population declines were first noted in the province in 1979. Since then, populations appear to have been wiped out over much of central Alberta and are absent or greatly reduced in southern Alberta.
It is officially considered threatened under the Wildlife Act, said Kris Kendell, a biologist with the Alberta Conservation Association.
"In 2005, a recovery team was formed and a recovery plan was drafted, but it's not approved yet," said Kendell, who teams up with provincial biologists on amphibian projects.
The plan includes habitat assessment, a population inventory, reintroduction and DNA work, and raising the public's awareness about the plight of the northern leopard frog.
A pilot leopard frog reintroduction program that began in 1999 had some success, Kendell said. The frogs were seen or heard at one of the reintroduction sites from 2001 to 2004, but this year not a peep was heard from them. This does not mean they are not there, Kendell said. They could be at a low density.
Still, there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
In 1997, the province and the conservation association initiated an amphibian monitoring program called Researching Amphibian Numbers in Alberta. But the number of sites monitored fell from six in 2004 to four this year, Gutsell said.
"Like most efforts in conservation, it seems funding is often a challenge," Kendell said.
"We get enough to keep going and we form partnerships to overcome any shortfalls."