Andrea J. Adams
Cheryl J. Briggs
Patricia Galina-Tessaro
Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio
Bradford Hollingsworth
H. Bradley Shaffer
Robert N. Fisher
Anny Peralta-Garcia
2018
<p> Chytridiomycosis is caused by the fungal pathogen <i>Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis</i> (<i>Bd</i>) and is regarded as one of the most significant threats to global amphibian populations. In México, <i>Bd</i> was first reported in 2003 and has now been documented in 13 states. We visited 33 localities and swabbed 199 wild-caught anurans from 7 species (5 native, 2 exotic) across the Mediterranean region of the state of Baja California. Using quantitative PCR, <i>Bd</i> was detected in 94 individuals (47.2% of samples) at 25 of the 33 survey localities for 5 native and 1 exotic frog species. The exotic <i>Xenopus laevis</i> was the only species that tested completely negative for <i>Bd</i>. We found that remoteness, distance to agricultural land, and elevation were the best predictors of <i>Bd</i> presence. These are the first <i>Bd</i>-positive results for the state of Baja California and its presence should be regarded as an additional conservation threat to the region’s native frog species. </p>
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10.3354/dao03202
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Inter-Research
Occurrence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in anurans of the Mediterranean region of Baja California, México
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