Comment on "Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity"

Max R Lambert; Molly C Womack; Allison Q Byrne; Obed Hernández-Gómez; Clay F Noss; Andrew P Rothstein; David C Blackburn; James P Collins; Martha L Crump; Michelle S Koo; Priya Nanjappa; Louise Rollins-Smith; Vance T Vredenburg; Erica B Rosenblum

doi:10.1126/science.aay1838

Comment on "Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity"

Science. 2020 Mar 20;367(6484):eaay1838. doi: 10.1126/science.aay1838.

Authors

Max R Lambert¹, Molly C Womack^{2

3}, Allison Q Byrne^{2

4}, Obed Hernández-Gómez², Clay F Noss^{2

4}, Andrew P Rothstein^{2

4}, David C Blackburn⁵, James P Collins⁶, Martha L Crump^{7

8}, Michelle S Koo⁴, Priya Nanjappa⁹, Louise Rollins-Smith^{10

11}, Vance T Vredenburg^{4

12}, Erica B Rosenblum^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. lambert.mrm@gmail.com.
² Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
³ National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
⁴ Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁵ Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
⁶ School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
⁷ Department of Biology and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA.
⁸ Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
⁹ Conservation Science Partners, Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA.
¹⁰ Departments of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
¹¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
¹² Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.

PMID: 32193293
DOI: 10.1126/science.aay1838

Abstract

Scheele et al (Reports, 29 March 2019, p. 1459) bring needed attention to the effects of amphibian infectious disease. However, the data and methods implicating the disease chytridiomycosis in 501 amphibian species declines are deficient. Which species are affected, and how many, remains a critical unanswered question. Amphibians are imperiled; protective actions require public support and robust science.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Amphibians
Animals
Biodiversity
Chytridiomycota*
Mycoses*