u6718252, Matthew Qiu

It is fairly well known that that many of Australia’s frog species have been rapidly declining over recent decades. There have been multiple causes of this – climate change, habitat destruction and disease just to name a few. In particular, chytrid fungus disease, a disease that was introduced into Australia in the 1970s, has been taking a heavy toll on our frogs ever since. This disease has contributed to the extinction of at least four native species and is threatening many more not just in Australia but world-wide. As a result, we’re looking for ways to mitigate this disease and find methods to support affected frog populations.

A Surprising Bounce Back

Surprisingly however, a number of frog species appear to be bouncing back in population and in areas of high concentration of chytrid fungus no less. The whistling tree frog (Litoria verreauxii) is a frog species that was heavily impacted by the introduction of chytrid fungus disease, but recent studies have shown that despite mortality from chytrid fungus remaining high, population appears to recovering. Other studies have also shown that infection rates in the tadpoles of some frog species like the whistling tree frog are remarkably low.

So why is this important? Well, much of the current biodiversity work on frogs are mostly focused on high risk of extinction species due to chytrid fungus. While this is fine, there may be potentially much to learn from these frog species that are seemingly coexisting with the disease. Understanding why these frogs are so resilient in the face of a normally deadly disease may unlock potential interventions we can use in order to support other more vulnerable frog species.