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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis And The Collapse Of Anuran Species Richness And Abundance In The Upper Manu National Park, Southeastern Peru, Edgar Lehr, Allessandro Catenazzi, Lily Rodriguez, Vance Vrendeburg Dec 2009

Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis And The Collapse Of Anuran Species Richness And Abundance In The Upper Manu National Park, Southeastern Peru, Edgar Lehr, Allessandro Catenazzi, Lily Rodriguez, Vance Vrendeburg

Edgar Lehr

Amphibians are declining worldwide, but these declines have been particularly dramatic in tropical mountains, where high endemism and vulnerability to an introduced fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is associated with amphibian extinctions. We surveyed frogs in the Peruvian Andes in montane forests along a steep elevational gradient (1200-3700 m). We used visual encounter surveys to sample stream-dwelling and arboreal species and leaf-litter plots to sample terrestrial-breeding species. We compared species richness and abundance among the wet seasons of 1999, 2008, and 2009. Despite similar sampling effort among years, the number of species (46 in 1999) declined by 47% between 1999 …


Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis In The Live Frog Trade Of Telmatobius (Anura: Ceratophryidae) In The Tropical Andes, Edgar Lehr, Alessandro Catenazzi, Vance Vredenburg Dec 2009

Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis In The Live Frog Trade Of Telmatobius (Anura: Ceratophryidae) In The Tropical Andes, Edgar Lehr, Alessandro Catenazzi, Vance Vredenburg

Edgar Lehr

Species of frogs in the genus Telmatobius are traded and sold for human consumption in the Andes and in coastal cities of Peru and Bolivia. These frogs are harvested from wild populations. We report high prevalence of infection by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in live frogs purchased at the main market in Cusco, Peru, from January 2008 to January 2010. We suggest that the transport of native anurans through the live frog trade could facilitate the spread of this fungus among Andean frogs. The tropical Andes are the most important biodiversity hotspot for amphibians. Because many neotropical taxa are …


A New Andean Species Of The Hypsiboas Pulchellus Group: Adults, Calls, And Phylogenetic Relationships, Edgar Lehr, Julian Faivovich, Karl-Heinz Jungfer Dec 2009

A New Andean Species Of The Hypsiboas Pulchellus Group: Adults, Calls, And Phylogenetic Relationships, Edgar Lehr, Julian Faivovich, Karl-Heinz Jungfer

Edgar Lehr

We describe a new species of the Hypsiboas pulchellus Group from the eastern Andes of central Peru (Region Pasco). Calls of both H. melanopleura and the new species are described. The new species is more similar to H. melanopleura and H. palaestes but differs in morphological characters and in coloration pattern. The new species and H. melanopleura are included in a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the H. pulchellus Group that shows them to be sister species and forming a second, independent, Andean clade within the group. New collecting sites for H. melanopleura are provided with the first record in the …


Two New Species Of Bryophryne (Anura: Strabomantidae) From High Elevations In Southern Peru (Region Of Cusco), Edgar Lehr, Alessandro Catenazzi Dec 2009

Two New Species Of Bryophryne (Anura: Strabomantidae) From High Elevations In Southern Peru (Region Of Cusco), Edgar Lehr, Alessandro Catenazzi

Edgar Lehr

We describe two new species of Bryophryne from the Region of Cusco, Provincia de La Convencio´n in southern Peru, increasing the number of currently known Bryophryne to eight. One of the new species is the second known species of Bryophryne that has a tympanic annulus and tympanic membrane. Males of this species have vocal slits, a vocal sac, and call from inside moss. It is readily distinguished from all its congeners by having a blackish-brown venter with yellow, orange, or pale pink blotches. This species is found at elevations of 3800–3850 m in the puna along the road from Vilcabamba …


Regulatory Elements Of Xenopus Col2a1 Drive Cartilaginous Gene Expression In Transgenic Frogs, Ryan Kerney, Brian K. Hall, James Hanken Dec 2009

Regulatory Elements Of Xenopus Col2a1 Drive Cartilaginous Gene Expression In Transgenic Frogs, Ryan Kerney, Brian K. Hall, James Hanken

Ryan Kerney

This study characterizes regulatory elements of collagen 2α1 (col2a1) in Xenopus that enable transgene expression in cartilage-forming chondrocytes. The reporters described in this study drive strong cartilage-specific gene expression, which will be a valuable tool for further investigations of Xenopus skeletal development. While endogenous col2a1 mRNA is expressed in many embryonic tissues, its expression becomes restricted to tadpole and adult chondrocytes. This chondrocyte-specific expression is recapitulated by col2a1 reporter constructs, which were tested through I-SceI meganuclease-mediated transgenesis. These constructs contain a portion of the Xenopus tropicalis col2a1 intron, which aligns to a cartilage-specific intronic enhancer that has been well characterized …