Researchers have developed mini-saunas or 'hotspot' shelters allowing frogs to elevate their body temperatures to levels lethal to a deadly fungus, curing infections and enhancing immunity against future attacks.
The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a deadly pathogen that has caused declines in over 500 amphibian species and led to the extinction of at least 90 others globally. It disrupts their ability to move water and gases across their skin and causes devastating biodiversity loss.
The shelters, costing $60-$70 each, can be shared among multiple frogs and are easy to replicate and scale up with community involvement.
The intervention has been successful in reducing chytrid infections and mortality rates in endangered species like the green and golden bell frog in Australia, which has disappeared from 90% of its native range due to the fungus.
Frogs that survive the infection after being exposed to the shelters have shown an 86% survival rate compared to 22% for those not previously infected, suggesting the shelters could significantly help endangered species.
The success of the shelters, currently in use at Sydney Olympic Park with positive results on bell frog populations, indicates they could be beneficial for other endangered frog species threatened by chytridiomycosis through collaboration across institutions.
Sources: Smithsonianmag, NYTimes, PopSci, Nature, CBC, NewScientist, ABC, TheConversation, Yahoo, Forbes, MirageNews, Unimelb, TAG24, Earth, TheMercury, IFLScience, Phys, SciTechDaily, Lighthouse, Science.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
