IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v447y2007i7144d10.1038_nature05941.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The proximate cause of frog declines?

Author

Listed:
  • Ines Di Rosa

    (Università di Perugia, Via Pascoli 1)

  • Francesca Simoncelli

    (Università di Perugia, Via Pascoli 1)

  • Anna Fagotti

    (Università di Perugia, Via Pascoli 1)

  • Rita Pascolini

    (Università di Perugia, Via Pascoli 1)

Abstract

Arising from: J. A. Pounds et al. Nature 439, 161–167 (2006)10.1038/nature04246 ; Pounds et al. reply Pounds et al.1 argue that global warming contributes to amphibian declines by encouraging outbreaks of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Although our findings agree with the climate-linked epidemic hypothesis1,2,3,4, this pathogen is probably not the only proximate factor in such cases: in the Trasimeno Lake area of Umbria in central Italy, for example, the water frog Rana lessonae first declined in the late 1990s, yet chytridiomycosis was not observed until 2003 (refs 5, 6). Here we show that the chytrid was common there throughout 1999–2002, in a previously unknown form that did not cause disease. We therefore think that the focus by Pounds et al. on a single pathogen is hard to justify because the host–parasite ecology is at present so poorly understood.

Suggested Citation

  • Ines Di Rosa & Francesca Simoncelli & Anna Fagotti & Rita Pascolini, 2007. "The proximate cause of frog declines?," Nature, Nature, vol. 447(7144), pages 4-5, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:447:y:2007:i:7144:d:10.1038_nature05941
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05941
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05941
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature05941?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:447:y:2007:i:7144:d:10.1038_nature05941. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.