Snakes suffered after a frog-killing fungus wiped out their food.
The global pandemic caused by the amphibian fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has decimated frog populations around the world. This decline has been called out as a potential catastrophe for amphibian species. What has been less explored are the impacts of amphibian declines on other members of their ecological communities, a report in Discover magazine says.
Using survey data collected over 13 years, Zipkin et al. looked at diversity and body condition of a tropical snake community heavily affected by chytridiomycosis. They found that affected snake communities were less diverse and most species were in decline, except for a few “winning” species.Science Focus magazine Subscription in Pakistan
The demise of the snake community after amphibian loss demonstrates the repercussive and often unnoticed consequences of the biodiversity crisis and calls attention to the invisible declines of rare and data-deficient species.
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