http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. It is known as the amphibian chytrid fungus and can cause a deadly disease that is decimating some of the world's frogs, toads, newts and salamanders. However, the fungus had not been detected in the other lesser-known major group of amphibians, the caecilians, until now. http://phys.org/news287910165.html Biology Thu, 16 May 2013 08:04:05 EST news287910165 (Phys.org) —A team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the National University of Singapore (NUS), revealed in a new study, for the first time, the presence of the pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in amphibians sampled in Singapore. And the American bullfrog may be a central player in the spread of the disease. http://phys.org/news281800143.html Biology Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:49:15 EST news281800143 What if Noah got it wrong? What if he paired a male and a female animal thinking they were the same species, and then discovered they were not the same and could not produce offspring? As researchers from the Smithsonian's Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project race to save frogs from a devastating disease by breeding them in captivity, a genetic test averts mating mix-ups. http://phys.org/news276866579.html Biology Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:24:21 EST news276866579 (Phys.org)—A team of US biologists has found that the chytrid fungus, believed to be responsible for amphibian deaths worldwide, also infects and kills crayfish. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers write that their findings show that non-amphibian species can be infected by the fungus also, which helps explain how the fungus is able to persist in some lakes and ponds even after all of the amphibians in them have been killed. http://phys.org/news275032535.html Biology Tue, 18 Dec 2012 06:10:01 EST news275032535 (Phys.org)—Scientists from the University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory have helped to reintroduce a species of toad declared extinct in the wild to its native range-the world's first reintroduction of an extinct-in-the-wild amphibian. Kurt Buhlmann, an associate research scientist, and Tracey Tuberville, an assistant research scientist, both with the SREL, were part of a team that on Oct. 30 released 2,500 Kihansi spray toads into their historic habitat—a five-acre waterfall spray zone in the Kihansi Gorge in Tanzania. http://phys.org/news270975590.html Biology Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:20:03 EST news270975590 (Phys.org)—Chilean biologist Virginia Moreno is besotted with frogs. So much so that she is taking on the might of the forestry industry to study one frog in particular – Chile's critically endangered mountain frog, Telmatobufo bullock. http://phys.org/news269074147.html Biology Wed, 10 Oct 2012 07:49:13 EST news269074147 To reach one of the last wild populations of the mountain yellow-legged frog on Earth, Adam Backlin and Elizabeth Gallegos tramped down a no-nonsense trail, scaled cliffs and barged through nettles along a vein of water in a scowling canyon deep in the San Gabriel Mountains. http://phys.org/news267188027.html Biology Tue, 18 Sep 2012 12:20:02 EST news267188027 (Phys.org) -- The global trade in bullfrogs, which are farmed as a food source in South America and elsewhere, is spreading a deadly fungus that is contributing to the decline of amphibians worldwide, according to a University of Michigan biologist and his colleagues. http://phys.org/news264060180.html Biology Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:03:16 EST news264060180 The fungal infection that has killed a record number of amphibians worldwide leads to deadly dehydration in frogs in the wild, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University researchers. http://phys.org/news254591944.html Biology Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:00:02 EST news254591944 Known for its distinctive "ribbit" call, the noisy Pacific chorus frog is a potent carrier of a deadly amphibian disease, according to new research published today in the journal PLoS ONE. Just how this common North American frog survives chytridiomycosis may hold clues to protect more vulnerable species from the disease. http://phys.org/news250779966.html Biology Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:00:04 EST news250779966 Amphibians are among the most threatened creatures on earth, with some 40 percent of amphibian species threatened or endangered. One of their primary threats is a rapidly spreading disease that attacks the skin cells of amphibians. "Chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease, has been a key factor in the extinctions of many species of frogs around the world," said Lisa Belden, associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Science at Virginia Tech. http://phys.org/news239980800.html Biology Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:20:08 EST news239980800 The global trade in frogs, toads and other amphibians may have accidentally helped create and spread the deadly fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, which has devastated amphibian populations worldwide. http://phys.org/news239964310.html Biology Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:45:25 EST news239964310 Researchers at Oregon State University have shown for the first time that loss of biodiversity may be contributing to a fungal infection that is killing amphibians around the world, and provides more evidence for why biodiversity is important to many ecosystems. http://phys.org/news235662899.html Biology Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:00:04 EST news235662899 Zoologists at Oregon State University have discovered that a freshwater species of zooplankton will eat a fungal pathogen which is devastating amphibian populations around the world. http://phys.org/news233573642.html Biology Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:34:20 EST news233573642 A microscopic chytrid fungus is causing massive declines in frog populations all over the world and even the extinction of certain species. Together with colleagues from Europe and the USA, researchers from the University of Zurich present methods as to how the chytrid fungus can be combated in the journal Frontiers in Zoology: namely with bacteria and fungicides. However, the possibility of vaccinating the frogs is also being considered. http://phys.org/news227878892.html Biology Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:41:47 EST news227878892 (PhysOrg.com) -- According to a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, human development and habitat loss are not the main contributor to the population decline of many amphibian species. In actuality, that human encroachment on natural habitat many actually be saying some of them. http://phys.org/news226123621.html Biology Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:30:01 EST news226123621 An army of volunteers will be wading into ponds across the UK this spring to map the spread of a killer amphibian fungus. http://phys.org/news221278897.html Biology Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:40:01 EST news221278897 The most comprehensive assessment of the world's vertebrates confirms an extinction crisis with one-fifth of species threatened. However, the situation would be worse were it not for current global conservation efforts, according to a study launched today at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD, in Nagoya, Japan. http://phys.org/news207338923.html Biology Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:08:59 EST news207338923 As a disease known as amphibian chytrid fungus continues to wipe out amphibian species worldwide, frogs in Panama are finding a safe haven in a seemingly unlikely spot—between the metal walls of shipping containers once used to transport ice cream, strawberries, coffee beans, flowers and pharmaceuticals. Two of six refrigerated containers to be donated by the shipping company Maersk Line arrived this week at Summit Municipal Park in Panama City, Panama, where the Smithsonian Institution and partners are working to save amphibians in imminent danger of extinction. http://phys.org/news191244596.html Biology Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:50:01 EST news191244596 Scientists broadly agree that global warming may threaten the survival of many plant and animal species; but global warming did not kill the Monteverde golden toad, an often cited example of climate-triggered extinction, says a new study. The toad vanished from Costa Rica's Pacific coastal-mountain cloud forest in the late 1980s, the apparent victim of a pathogen outbreak that has wiped out dozens of other amphibians in the Americas. Many researchers have linked outbreaks of the deadly chytrid fungus to climate change, but the new study asserts that the weather patterns, at Monteverde at least, were not out of the ordinary. http://phys.org/news186668559.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:00:05 EST news186668559 A workshop at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has dramatically improved the ability of conservationists and regulatory agencies to monitor the spread of chytridiomycosis—one of the deadliest frog diseases on Earth. http://phys.org/news175180017.html Biology Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:20:02 EST news175180017 (AP) -- Scientists are airlifting dozens of one of the world's largest frogs off of Montserrat island to save them from a deadly fungus devastating their dwindling habitat. The dense forest of this tiny British Caribbean territory is the last remaining stronghold of the critically endangered mountain chicken frog, a 2-pound (0.9 kg), frying pan-size amphibian that got its name because locals say its meat tastes like - you guessed it - chicken. http://phys.org/news161054412.html Biology Sat, 09 May 2009 02:20:56 EST news161054412 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research at Victoria University has revealed remarkable longevity in wild populations of New Zealand native frogs, particularly in the threatened Maud Island frog (Leiopelma pakeka). http://phys.org/news157307060.html Biology Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:25:07 EST news157307060