A voluntary caving moratorium is being issued to protect bats by preventing the spread of a deadly fungal disease that causes white-nose syndrome in bats. From the Straits Times:

US officials are asking people to stay out of caves in states from West Virginia to New England, where as many as 500,000 bats have died from a disease known as ‘white-nose syndrome’.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service made the request to guard against the possibility that people are unwittingly spreading the mysterious affliction when they explore multiple caves. There is no evidence that white nose is a threat to people.

Named for the sugary smudges of fungus on the noses and wings of hibernating bats, white-nose bats appear to run through their winter fat stores before spring.

It was confirmed in eight states this winter from New Hampshire to West Virginia and there is evidence it may have spread to Virginia, according to wildlife service spokeswoman Diana Weaver. Some death-count estimates run as high as 500,000 bats.

Researchers worry about a mass die-off of bats, which help control the populations of insects that can damage wheat, apples and dozens of other crops.

The advisory seeking a voluntary caving moratorium also would cover states adjacent to affected states – a swath of the United States stretching from Maine down to North Carolina and west to Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, Weaver said.

The iconic Natterjack toads (Epidalea calamita), which are “native to sandy and heathland areas of Northern Europe,” have been exposed to the chytrid fungus. From Scotland on Sunday:

Government scientists have found traces of chytrid fungus in Natterjack Toads along both the northern and southern shores of the Solway Firth, where populations have steeply declined in the past two years.

They are now calling for increased biosecurity measures around amphibian habitats to prevent other populations of frogs, toads and newts in Scotland succumbing to the disease.

Chytrid disease is caused by a fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) that infects the skin tissues of amphibians. It has already caused catastrophic declines and extinctions across Australia and the Americas.

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SNH is now considering stricter biosecurity measures – such as disinfecting footwear and equipment – for people who come into contact with the toads. “We want to stop it from spreading to other species such as frogs, other toads and newts, which might be affected,” Thompson said.

The Natterjack Toad is one of only three amphibians protected under the UK’s national Biodiversity Action Plan. Numbers are already in decline through loss of habitat, and the effects of pollution.

The mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) has been exposed to the chytrid fungus as well. From RedOrbit:

The “mountain chicken frog” of the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat is the latest victim of a lethal fungal disease that is devastating amphibian populations throughout the world.

British researchers say that just two small pockets of mountain chicken frogs (Leptodactylus fallax) are all that remain disease-free on the entire island. Conservationists are working to take the surviving frogs, some of the world’s largest, into captive breeding programs.

Experts believe the chytrid fungus entered Montserrat on small frogs stowing away in consignments of produce from Dominica.

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Events on Montserrat now appear to be repeating what occurred on Dominica in 2002, when 80 percent of the island’s mountain chicken frogs were devastated within 15 months of the fungus arriving.

The fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), first identified over ten years ago, has spread through hundreds of amphibian species throughout the world. It some species, extinction results in a matter of months, while others are seemingly immune.

“We still don’t know how chytrid kills frogs, and there’s some very basic stuff about the biology of the fungus that we need to understand,” said Andrew Cunningham from the Zoological Society of London, in an interview with BBC News.

“We’ve known about it for 10 years, but so little money has been spent on it.

“If this was killing mammals or birds in the same way it’s killing amphibians, millions and millions would have been spent on it.”

Chemicals can be used to rid amphibians of the fungus in captivity, but there is currently no way to cure them in the wild, or to eradicate infected water bodies. Because of this, conservation groups are working towards establishing captive populations.

On the Net:

1. White-Nose Syndrome in bats: Something is killing our bats
2. White-Nose Syndrome: More information…
3. NORTHEASTERN CAVE CONSERVANCY CLOSES CAVES TO COMBAT WHITE NOSE SYNDROME IN BATS
4. Origin of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus
5. Chytrid fungus and chytridiomycosis

The map showing counties in the northeast and mid-Atlantic where white-nose syndrome has been found is courtesy of Cal Butchkoski, Pennsylvania Game Commission. The image showing bats with white-nose syndrome was found here. The Natterjack toad image is by Piet Spaans. The Leptodactylus fallax image was found here.

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