Life Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Urbanization On The Occurrence Of Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis: Do Urban Environments Provide Refuge From The Amphibian Chytrid Fungus?, Daniel Saenz, Taylor L. Hall, Matthew Kwiatkowski

Faculty Publications

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a widespread pathogenic fungus that is known to cause the disease, chytridiomycosis, which can be lethal to many amphibians. We compared occurrence rates on spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) in urban and forested breeding sites in eastern Texas, USA. All study sites were at approximately the same latitude and altitude, and samples were collected at the same time of year to isolate differences in Bd infection rates between habitat types. We found significant differences (p<0.001) in the occurrence of Bd between habitats; with dramatically lower rates of occurrence at urban sites (19.5 %), compared to forested sites (62.9 …