Climate change exacerbates frog disease
Scientists have found that more changeable temperatures caused by global warming may be exacerbating the risk posed to frogs by a lethal fungal disease called chytridiomycosis.
It seems the animals' immune systems lose potency during unpredictable temperature changes and they succumb faster to the disease, which is killing amphibians across the world.
Chytridiomycosis was identified in 1998 and is caused by the parasitic fungus Batrachochyytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). It affects frogs and their amphibian relatives, such as salamanders and caecilians, and has brought about the extinction of a number of species.
Thomas Raffel, lead scientist on the new research, said: "I'm not convinced that the effect we've discovered could be considered responsible for declines or extinctions in the way that the spread of Bd can be considered responsible."
He added: "It might be, however, that climate change has sped up the decline or extinction after the parasite arrived."
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
