Frogs

Frogs

Nicole Ostrander 

Bio 125

         The article “Where have all the Frogs Gone?” delved into chytridiomycosis also known as chytrid fungus, and the detrimental effects it’s having on amphibians across the globe.  Chytrid fungus is a spore that causes a disease in amphibians that ultimately results in death. The Chytrid fungus inhibits an amphibians ability to respirate their cells. When the chytrid fungus infects a frog it causes the skin on the frog to thicken making it impossible for the frog to fulfill cellular respiration. As discussed in class cellular respiration is when sugar, oxygen and water are absorbed and CO2 and ATP (energy) is released. If an amphibian can’t go through respiration and moderate their water/salt absorption they will die.

        While all amphibians are at risk for the disease further research into chytridiomycosis lead me to an article called “Skin” which was all about different types of skin in different species. The article explains  “a skinned frog releases just as much water as a living frog” (“Skin”McGraw 2019) that basically means that a frog’s skin is really permeable making it the perfect host for chytridiomycosis. Today chytrid fungus has resulted in the extinction of 90 different species, has affected 700 species worldwide and been labeled “one of the most destructive pathogens for biodiversity” (Amphibians Face Extinction Crisis, 2015.). There isn’t a solid cure for ecosystems infected with chytrid fungus. Wildlife monitoring has the potential to help if researchers  notice an infection starting and are fast enough at clearing the ecosystem of infected individuals, but overall it’s very hard to get rid of chytrid fungus once it’s taken root somewhere. Further research hopes to find a cure for ecosystems devastated by chytridiomycosis.

Work Cited