Nov 19, 2022
There have been dramatic declines in amphibian populations
around the world, and one of the culprits is the disease
Chytridiomycosis. This is a skin disease of amphibians caused
by two different species of Batrachochytrium fungi, and it
has decimated frog and salamander populations and even driven some
to extinction.
Dr. Anat Belasen is a post-doctoral scientist at the University of
Texas Austin who studies Chytridiomycosis. Dr. Belasen
discusses how some amphibians are highly susceptible to this
disease whereas others are resistant, why amphibian skin is so
important for their well-being, how frogs can be considered a
biological indicator of the health of an ecosystem, how farmed
bullfrogs may be spreading the disease around the world, how
genetic susceptibility screening and microbiomes may be used to try
and stop the population decline, and how she’s been a frog lover
for her entire life.
This episode was supported by Gordo Sheepsay’s My Brave Little
Autoclave, the kitchen appliance that may literally save your
life.
Participants:
- Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA)
- Anat Belasen, Ph.D. (U.T. Austin)
- Mylea Echazarreta (UTSA)