New evidence details spread of amphibian-killing disease from Mexico through Central America

Using museum specimens from Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica, a team of researchers from San Francisco State University and University of California at Berkeley has documented evidence of a Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) epidemic wave that wiped out native amphibians, according to research to be published on May 3 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (PNAS).

More than 40 percent of all amphibian species are currently in decline, with many species having already disappeared, even in protected areas. The suspected culprit has been the emergence of a fungal pathogen, Bd, which coincided with the decline of the amphibian community

Using samples collected before, during and after the decline, Cheng, et al., documented the spread of the infection from southern Mexico southward in the early 1970s to western Guatemala in the 1980s and 1990s and to Costa Rica by 1987.

The technique used may help determine whether the disease is the cause for the collapse of the amphibian populations in Australia, South America and North America.

SF State is the only master's-level public university serving the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin. The University enrolls more than 30,000 students each year and graduates about 7,000 annually. With nationally acclaimed programs in a range of fields -- from creative writing, cinema and biology to history, broadcast and electronic communication arts, theatre arts and ethnic studies -- the University's more than 180,000 graduates have contributed to the economic, cultural and civic fabric of San Francisco and beyond.