Colder temperatures foster greater microbial diversity on amphibian skin - EurekAlert

-

A far-reaching global study led by University of Colorado Boulder scientists has found that climate is a critical determinant of microbial diversity on amphibian skin, with colder, more variable temperatures producing richer bacterial communities than warmer, more stable environments.

The findings, recently published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, are the result of the largest geographical study of the amphibian microbiome in history, with dozens of researchers from 31 institutions combining to sample over 2,300 specimens, encompassing 205 species in 12 countries on five continents.

Amphibian dermal microbes are known to shape their hosts' health and physiology, but the patterns and prevalence of these communities have remained poorly understood at a global scale. Amphibians have become increasingly threatened by habitat losses and fungal infections in recent decades, leading to greater research emphasis on environmental factors that could either help or hinder their survival.

Surprisingly, the new study found that while amphibian species diversity tends to increase in temperate and tropical areas of the world, microbial diversity does the opposite.

The American bullfrog, a widely distributed species whose habitat range spans the globe, proved representative of this phenomenon. The researchers sampled 139 bullfrogs from various locales such as Brazil, Japan, South Korea and the United States, finding that those who experienced lower minimum temperatures during the coldest month of the year had greater bacterial diversity than their fair-weather brethren.

The bullfrogs' microbes also proved to be highly local in character, with just a single bacterium remaining constant among 80 percent of the worldwide specimens and no evidence of an underlying "core" community.

"Bullfrogs are native to eastern North America, but they have become invasive all over the world, which gives us a chance to examine how the microbes of one type of frog compare across very different environments," said Valerie McKenzie, a co-author of the study and an associate professor in CU Boulder's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EBIO). "We thought that the bullfrogs from different places might share more microbes in common, but instead, they are influenced very strongly by their local habitat and climate"

The researchers hypothesize that warmer temperatures may encourage faster microbial turnover on the amphibians' skin, leading a few dominant bacteria to quickly conquer and squash diversity. By contrast, colder temperatures may encourage dormancy among some microbes, thwarting the possibility for rapid takeover and allowing for bacterial cycling throughout the year.

The findings could influence future research into amphibian health and resiliency, especially in sub-alpine regions where species such as the boreal toad in the western United States face ongoing threats from climate change-related temperature changes and deadly infections.

"Given the importance of temperature in this large analysis, we have new leads to examine patterns across elevation gradients in our mountain habitats and how those influence microbes and animal health," McKenzie said.

###

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.



https://ift.tt/2JJtn9X

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All In The Family: Maine Mother & Son Charged in Massive Drug Bust

-
Image
corso dog :: Article Creator Woman Hospitalized After Attack By 2 Dogs At Same Edmonton Home Where Boy Died: Lawyer UPDATE: On April 15, 2024, the City of Edmonton provided an update on the fatal attack. It said that prior to the deadly incident on April 1, "the city had no lawful basis to remove the dogs from the home." The city added that "all prior complaints about the dogs involved in this incident were investigated thoroughly and appropriate action was taken in accordance with the applicable legislation." The city also said a review found that its staff "acted appropriately in accordance with our standard practices and in compliance with the relevant legal constraints given the nature of past complaints and reports." A woman was hospitalized after being attacked in February by two large Cane Corso dogs at the same home where an 11-year-old boy was killed last week, the woman's lawyer told Global News. "I
Read more

Rare Frogs And Illegal Drugs - Palisades Hudson Financial Group

-
Image
Colombian conservationist Ivan Lozano has hit on a brilliantly promising strategy to protect his country’s rare and endangered amphibians. His plan: Flood the market with them. Lozano is not hunting rare frogs in Colombia’s Andean forests. He is raising them himself and selling them at prices designed to undercut poachers and smugglers. If he can raise the frogs cheaply enough, and in large enough numbers, he might manage to drive down the market price to the point that poachers no longer find it worthwhile to harvest and smuggle the creatures onto the black markets. Lozano told The Associated Press that his company also encourages collectors to breed their own frogs. Picture yourself as a poacher. If the government toughens the legal penalties and steps up enforcement, you will shrug your shoulders; legal risks are a basic cost of doing business. Since the demand for your product already exists among foreign collectors and other buyers, tougher enforcement merely reduces supply a
Read more

Burn scars, winter storms threaten rare and endangered species in San Gabriel Mountains - The Bakersfield Californian

-
Image
LOS ANGELES — Up until a few weeks ago, the West Fork of the San Gabriel River was one of the most abundant wildlife habitats in Los Angeles County, a secluded and rugged area defined by its steep peaks, lush canyons and mixture of rare and endangered species. Recently however, a team of federal biologists and forest rangers was aghast when it visited the stream following the Bobcat fire, which has burned more than 115,000 acres in the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Terrain that once resembled a High Sierra granite gorge now looked like ground zero after a nuclear explosion, and the usually clean mountain air was sharp with the stench of smoke. Particularly unsettling were the bare and ashen slopes that were now primed to dissolve under pounding winter storms. A heavy mudslide, experts said, could reverse decades of conservation efforts by inundating the last outposts for such federally protected species as the Santa Ana sucker fish and Southern California m
Read more