Hi Stephi! and Everyone else!

I saw that program last night as well, and was very happy to hear about the different studies well under way in this fight against chytrid. It is encouraging. As I am a California native, I am very interested in what they may find out about our local Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla), which apparently has bacteria on its skin which inhibits the fungus' reach into the dermal tissue of the animal. The example in the Sierras, where the anti-fungal solution is being applied to individual specimens, is also fascinating, but I do not yet understand how this will help future generations, unless these suffering Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs (Rana muscosa) somehow magically acquire an anti-fungal defense of their own??? This is a long road to recovery, and time is of the essence. Last May I participated in our local zoo's Amphibian Arc endorsement. (The Sequoia Park Zoo is the smallest zoo accredited by the AZA.)

Yes, we are headed towards another massive extinction level event. Where humans will fit in the outcome of this is for humanity to decide (oh, the nightmare of trusting humans!). Our actions, our greed, our comfortable lifestyles have sped up the natural global warming process. It is thought that chytrid is flourishing because of these conditions. To date there is no cure. In my neck of the woods (Humboldt County), chytrid has not yet taken hold. Great, because we have about 15 salamander and 5 frog species living on our coastline, in our forests, and our coastal mountain lakes and rivers. Less than 2 hours east of us, in the Trinity Alps, chytrid has been found in the watersheds. So..... Since the Trinity River and the Salmon River begin in the Alps, and the Trinity and the Salmon run into the big Klamath River, we can expect for the fungus to eventually find its way down stream. Please understand that once chytrid has gained a foothold, it has the potential to wipe out up to 80% of all amphibian species living there within one year.

I have only lived here in NW CA since 2001, but in that time I have learned to hold dear to my heart all the wondrous animals that make up these threatened populations. Many species are still plentiful, others have been impacted by logging, siltification, pollution, bullfrogs, etc.
It would really bring me down to walk through the redwoods and not see any Ensatinas, Pacific Giant Salamanders, CA Slenders, No. Red-legs, etc.
Up here we also have the elusive Tailed Frog (Ascaphus truei) - nothing like it around; it is a primitive relic species which needs cold, clear, and shady creeks that flow year round; they are slow developers (2-4 years as a tadpole, and 7 or more years as a frog to reach maturity). If chytrid hits them, recovery may be impossible.

As Stephi mentioned, the loss of amphibians is going to have a tremendous effect on predator and prey species (already is!)- There goes a lot of garter food, and there goes some of our natural bug control!

Egads! Everytime I talk about the state of the environment I get totally depressed. Invasive aquatic fungi attacking amphibians; invasive roundworms wiping out earthworms in the UK; cane toads eating and poisoning Australian herpetofauna (and more); invasive mussels, snails, and pikeminnows; invasive weeds altering habitat; floating islands of plastic in the Pacific; where does it end? I know you all can add way more to this list.

Stephi, hopefully your African Clawed frog is clear of the fungus or your toad is immune. Maybe ya might want to buddy up with Animal Planet's sponsors - Chlorox! I wonder where you can go to get a chytrid test. In fact, that might be a local venture upon which to engage: get volunteers to regularly check local water supplies. We all know the red tape involved in getting the government to do anything comprehensive; by this I mean that even though there are govt. endeavors which are involved in the fight, such as those in protected parks, what about all the public and private lands? Anyone know if there's a chytrid kit yet?

Amphibians have enough to deal with: pharmaceutical waste coming from our toilets is rendering frog population male-less or permeated with dysfunctional mutations. Non-native trout stocking of alpine lakes (which never had any trout originally) are another issue (I posted a thread about this recently).

Okay, that's enough. I should really post shorter messages; that way I can have more posts to my name, and maybe go for that 3rd shed!

Steven