npr: Scientists are calling for an immediate ban on live salamander imports in the U.S. to try to pr
npr: Scientists are calling for an immediate ban on live salamander imports in the U.S. to try to prevent the spread of a fungal disease that could potentially devastate wild North American salamanders.Almost half of the world’s known salamander species live in North America, and many are already threatened or endangered. Salamanders may be inconspicuous, but they’re important to the ecosystem — they eat disease-carrying insects, are a key link between the aquatic and terrestrial food webs, and may even aid the global carbon cycle. Some species produce antimicrobial compounds, and others are being studied to learn how humans might someday regrow limbs.They’re also in danger from the chytrid fungus. When the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus, or Bd, was discovered in 1998 in parts of Australia and Central America, scientists could only watch as species after species of frogs and salamanders disappeared in what has become a worldwide die-off. Vance Vredenburg, a biologist at San Francisco State University, has seen firsthand what chytrid can do to amphibians. He calls it “absolute decimation.”Scientists Urge Ban On Salamander Imports To U.S. To Keep Fungus At BayPhoto credit: Courtesy of Tiffany Yap -- source link
Tumblr Blog : npr.tumblr.com