{"id":81878,"date":"2024-06-26T18:12:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T18:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/26\/if-you-give-a-frog-a-sauna-it-might-fight-off-a-deadly-fungus\/"},"modified":"2024-06-26T18:12:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T18:12:04","slug":"if-you-give-a-frog-a-sauna-it-might-fight-off-a-deadly-fungus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/26\/if-you-give-a-frog-a-sauna-it-might-fight-off-a-deadly-fungus\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Give a Frog a Sauna, It Might Fight Off a Deadly Fungus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/26\/multimedia\/26FROG-SAUNA-promo\/26FROG-SAUNA-promo-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"If You Give a Frog a Sauna, It Might Fight Off a Deadly Fungus\" title=\"If You Give a Frog a Sauna, It Might Fight Off a Deadly Fungus\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For decades, a deadly fungal disease has been stalking the world\u2019s amphibians, wiping out frogs, toads and salamanders from the mountain lakes of the United States to the rainforests of Australia. The disease, known as chytridiomycosis, or chytrid, has driven <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/28\/science\/frogs-fungus-bd.html\" title=\"\">at least 90 species<\/a> of amphibians extinct and has contributed to the decline of hundreds more, according to one estimate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cChytrid is this unprecedented pandemic of wildlife,\u201d said Anthony Waddle, a conservation biologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. \u201cWe\u2019re watching species and populations blink out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, like many formidable foes, chytrid has an Achilles\u2019 heel. The fungus that is the primary culprit \u2014 known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd \u2014 flourishes in cool weather and cannot withstand heat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-024-07582-y\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a new study<\/a> provides evidence that conservationists might be able to keep the fungus at bay by giving frogs a warm place to ride out the winter. A simple pile of sun-warmed bricks, the researchers found, attracts the green and golden bell frog, a vulnerable Australian species. These thermal shelters boost the frogs\u2019 body temperatures, helping them beat back fungal infections and, perhaps, setting them up for long-term survival.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf we give frogs the ability to clear their infections with heat, they will,\u201d said Dr. Waddle, the first author of the new paper, which was published Wednesday in Nature. \u201cAnd they\u2019ll likely be resistant in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The green and golden bell frog, which used to be common in southeastern Australia, has disappeared from much of the landscape and is now <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"http:\/\/www.environment.gov.au\/cgi-bin\/sprat\/public\/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1870\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">listed as endangered<\/a> in the state of New South Wales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Sydney, where some of the remaining bell frogs reside, chytrid often flares up in the winter and early spring, when daytime temperatures may max out in the 60s. In the first of several experiments documented in the new paper, Dr. Waddle and his colleagues found that the frogs preferred balmier climes when they were available. When placed in habitats with a temperature gradient, the frogs gravitated toward areas that were 84 degrees Fahrenheit, on average, warmer than is ideal for Bd.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a second experiment, the researchers placed fungus-infected frogs in a variety of climates. Some frogs spent weeks in the relative cold, in habitats set to 66 degrees. Those frogs harbored high levels of fungus for weeks. Over the months that followed, more than half of them died, Dr. Waddle said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But frogs housed in warmer environments, or given access to a wide array of temperatures, rapidly recovered from their infections, the researchers found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Frogs that recovered from chytrid, with the help of this kind of \u201cheat treatment,\u201d were also less susceptible to the disease in the future. When they were exposed to Bd again six weeks later \u2014 without the benefit of a hot habitat \u2014 86 percent of them survived, compared with 22 percent of the frogs that had not been previously infected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Finally, the researchers put these findings to the test in large outdoor enclosures that more closely resembled real-world conditions. The scientists stacked some hole-riddled bricks in each enclosure, covering each pile with a small greenhouse. The greenhouses were exposed to the sun in half of the enclosures and shaded in the rest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then, they released an assortment of frogs into each enclosure. Some of the frogs had never been exposed to Bd before, while others were actively infected with the fungus or had previously survived an infection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The shaded and the unshaded shelters each attracted frogs, which made themselves at home in the holes inside the bricks. But the frogs with access to the sun-warmed bricks maintained body temperatures that were roughly six degrees higher than frogs given shaded shelters, the scientists found. That elevation in temperature was enough to reduce the amount of fungus the frogs were harboring. \u201cJust a few degrees difference can tip the scales for the frogs,\u201d Dr. Waddle said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Frogs that had survived previous encounters with chytrid also had relatively mild infections, the researchers found, even when they were not given access to the sun-warmed shelters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The results suggest that thermal refuges might act as a sort of \u201ccrude immunization,\u201d Dr. Waddle said, helping frogs survive their first bout with Bd and leaving them less susceptible in the future. \u201cThen you\u2019re seeding the population with resistant frogs that would drive down the population level of chytrid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The strategy won\u2019t work for every threatened amphibian \u2014 not all of them are heat-seeking, for one \u2014 but it could be a low-cost intervention that benefits many, said Dr. Waddle, who is hoping to test the approach with other frog species.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the meantime, he has installed the shelters at Sydney Olympic Park, which is home to a wild population of the frogs. He\u2019s enlisting the public, too, encouraging local residents to \u201cbuild a frog sauna,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get people to put them in their backyards.<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/science\/frogs-amphibians-chytrid-fungus.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, a deadly fungal disease has been stalking the world\u2019s amphibians, wiping out frogs, toads and salamanders from the mountain lakes of the United States to the rainforests of Australia. The disease, known as chytridiomycosis, or chytrid, has driven at least 90 species of amphibians extinct and has contributed to the decline of hundreds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/26\/multimedia\/26FROG-SAUNA-promo\/26FROG-SAUNA-promo-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11100,4822,7193,72651,2739,72650],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81880,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81878\/revisions\/81880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}