Impact case study database

Training and capacity-building in amphibian disease detection and treatment:

Since 2013, IoZ researchers and technical staff have trained over 40 amphibian disease researchers from across Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America and Asia in methods for detecting infections and for isolating fungal and ranaviral isolates [E1]. They have also trained researchers in experimental procedures used for examining disease dynamics in amphibians [E2]. Trainees have applied what they learned to develop their careers at the PhD, post-doctoral and faculty levels. Former trainee Dr Xavier Harrison says “ the research arising from my fellowship at the IoZ was critical in allowing me to secure a permanent academic position at the University of Exeter”. Another, Dr. David Daversa says “ training was critical to my success as a PhD student and Postdoc” and Dr Vojtech Baláž says thanks to the gained skills and knowledge, I have got involved in multiple pathogen related research projects”. Several have established their own national pathogen surveillance programmes, including Professor Jacob Hoglund, who says: “ Without this assistance the first country-wide survey of [Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis] in Sweden….could not have been undertaken”. Trainees have established their own experimental facilities, diagnostic and detection facilities and NGOs, and in several cases acquired funding for their own research programmes in collaboration with IoZ scientists and as independent researchers [E2]. Dr Claudio Soto says he has been “ *awarded seven amphibian conservation project grants for work in Chile…..for USD540,000, including two consecutive Chilean Science and Technology Fund (the most prestigious scientific funding in Chile)*”.

In April 2019 IoZ scientists held a workshop on rapid decision making when disease outbreaks are identified. Contributors from across North America and Europe participated in the simulated emergency meeting and provided inputs that were i) used to manage the site the workshop was based on; ii) used in the management advice for the province in the Netherlands responsible for the management, as well as in the national action plan for B. salamandrivorans, written for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; and; iii) co-developed and shared with the United States Department of Interior inter-agency advisory task force on B. salamandrivorans “for uptake in subsequent management recommendations” [E3].

Meeting UK responsibilities for amphibian disease surveillance and reporting:

Chytridiomycete fungi and ranaviruses are the only OIE-listed pathogens that affect amphibians, and as an OIE member the UK is mandated to report cases of infection with either pathogen. The IoZ has been a partner of the government’s GB Wildlife Disease Surveillance Partnership (GBWDSP) since its inception in 2011 and is contracted to carry out national disease surveillance of amphibians. IoZ scientists accomplish this through the IoZ’s Garden Wildlife Health project, in which members of the public, ecological consultants and herpetologists are encouraged to submit observations of amphibian morbidity or mortality online. Where possible, the IoZ researchers obtain specimens for post-mortem examination to establish cause of death. Samples are collected as a routine to screen for chytridiomycete fungi and ranaviruses and results are included in the UK’s annual submission to the OIE. Novel findings on amphibian disease are communicated to the government’s Veterinary Risk Group and reported in quarterly open access GBWDSP reports [E4].

Raising awareness of best practice to safeguard wild amphibian health:

Incorporating the IoZ-founded Frog Mortality Project, the Garden Wildlife Health (GWH) project was launched in 2013: since this time citizen scientists have submitted approximately 2,000 amphibian disease incidents, and IoZ veterinarians have carried out approximately 600 amphibian post-mortem examinations. Running for 30 years, this is the longest-running citizen science amphibian health project globally. IoZ has converted surveillance findings and peer-reviewed studies to a library of 10 amphibian disease factsheets targeted at the public and fieldworkers, available via the GWH website. These provide science-based guidance for habitat management for amphibian disease prevention and control. This includes 2017’s Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK (ARG UK; 72 regional groups across the UK) and IoZ’s ‘Amphibian disease precautions: a guide for UK fieldworkers who are working with amphibians’ [E4]. In addition, in collaboration with a network of ten zoological organisations, NGOs, industry and government, IoZ researchers created the Amphibian Disease Alert to highlight the risk of B. salamandrivorans incursion to the wild in GB, and the biosecurity measures that can be taken by herpetologists with captive collections to mitigate this threat [E4]. Over the last 12 months, the GWH website received >58,000 user sessions by >48,000 users, who viewed>93,000 pages.

Controlling flow of amphibian infections through amphibian trade:

Cunningham’s membership on the OIE’s Ad Hoc Group for Amphibian Diseases was a direct outcome of the science he produced investigating the infectious disease causes of amphibian declines [E5]. This work led to amphibian chytridiomycosis and ranavirosis and their causative agents being included in the Aquatic Animal Health Code and directly contributed to the addition of B. salamandrivorans to the code in 2018 [E5]. Collaborative work by IoZ researchers involved screening more than 5,000 amphibians across four continents and combined experimental assessment of pathogenicity with phylogenetic methods to estimate the threat that the infection poses to amphibian diversity. This work also provided the scientific evidence that B. salamandrivorans is a recently emerged amphibian pathogen that arrived in Europe via the transport of Asian amphibians in the pet trade [R3], [E5]. This evidence was used to enact international restrictions on the importation of caudate amphibians into the U.S.A. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listing 201 salamander species as potentially injurious wildlife species through carrying B. salamandrivorans) and Canada (adding all salamanders to Schedule II of the Wild Animal and Plant Trade Regulation) and into and between EU member states (European Commission implementation OJ L 062 5.3.2018, page 18) [E5], [E6].

Impacts on the environment and Conservation Action Plans:

IoZ scientists have identified several possible strategies for preventing disease in wild amphibians against both species of fungus that cause chytridiomycosis. Applications of some of these have achieved both short- and long-term reductions and even eliminations of infections, which has directly benefited on-the-ground conservation efforts in the Caribbean and Europe [R9]. More than 2,000 Mallorcan midwife tadpoles were collected from the two drainage basins affected by chytridiomycosis and treated for infections, and the same was done for 220 frogs on Montserrat. Treatment on Mallorca likely saved one region from species extirpation, and lessons learned on Mallorca are being applied more broadly in the Iberian peninsula [E7]. On Montserrat, treatment of dozens of adult frogs provided short-term benefits and further research is now guiding the design of habitat refuges to prevent severe manifestations of disease [E7]. IoZ researchers helped establish captive management and disease diagnostic facilities on Dominica that continue to inform amphibian conservation activities on the island and helped establish a new NGO responding to the additional impacts of habitat loss attributable to Hurricane Maria [E8]. In addition, research, position statements on mitigating disease and field trials have all contributed to national and global action plans for the conservation of species at risk of extinction through to setting priorities for the global conservation of amphibians. As examples, IoZ research has helped develop the conservation actions plans for the Mountain Chicken Frog on Dominica and for Darwin’s frogs (two species) in Chile, and setting priorities of the Infectious Diseases Thematic Working Group of the IUCN’s Amphibian Conservation Action Plan [E9].