About This Project

Salamanders in Europe are dying from a disease caused by the "salamander devouring fungus", Bsal. This pathogen has both swimming and encysted zoospores that can be transmitted long distances. It has not been found in the salamander biodiversity hotspot of the world, the Appalachian Mountains of North America..yet. Our research aims to understand how humans and animals can spread Bsal across a landscape and model the outcomes on fatally susceptible North American salamanders.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Currently, the "salamander devouring fungus", Bsal, is causing mass declines of salamander populations in parts of Europe, but has yet to make its way to North America, the salamander biodiversity hotspot of the world. The southeastern US in particular has favorable bioclimatic conditions for the fungus to grow, creating an optimal opportunity for unprecedented disease spread. Fungal pathogens have spread intercontinentally before (i.e., White-nose Syndrome), however; no one has yet quantified the extent to which humans may serve as a vector of spreading wildlife pathogens to novel environments. Once established, we also know that other animals (i.e., waterfowl) can spread encysted zoospores across the landscape. Therefore, we aim to quantify potential dispersal rates of Bsal.

What is the significance of this project?

These results will allow us to predict Bsal growth and spread in the currently naïve North American environment. By understanding the most likely routes for disease transmission we can generate accurate models of disease spread and implement practices to stem dispersal of Bsal to North America. Eliminating the opportunity for this pathogen to reach naïve salamander populations is our best chance to save native salamanders from Bsal driven declines and extinctions. Humans are the global common denominator and as such it is our duty to determine our role in wildlife disease spread and help stop the proliferation of another potentially catastrophic infectious disease.

What are the goals of the project?

The goals of this research are to perform laboratory experiments to quantify fungal pathogen spread across a North American "landscape" by both humans and animal vectors (e.g., waterfowl). The funds will be used to purchase the supplies required to perform landscape transmission assays in the lab and process soil and swab samples to see how much pathogen was transferred. We'll be able to quantify how much Bsal people, birds, and wild mammals are able to spread to naïve environments via physical movement. These numbers will then be used to model transmission of Bsal across a landscape where susceptible salamander species live. This will help us implement better management practices ahead of an outbreak to hopefully stop Bsal from causing declines/extinctions in North American salamanders.