It seems one of the universities involved in this research was left out of the original news release and subsequent news coverage. First, there’s the original news as it was covered in June 2024 and then, you’ll find the July 2024 news release from the University of Arkansas.
A June 26, 2024 news item on phys.org announces a new approach to saving frogs from a fungus which is decimating frog species worldwide, Note: Links have been removed,
Macquarie University [Australia] researchers have used heat to develop a simple and effective way to help endangered frogs survive the devastating impacts of a pandemic sweeping multiple species
In collaboration with the University of Melbourne, researchers homed in on the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has already driven at least six amphib ian species to extinction in Australia and threatens dozens more worldwide.
The findings, published in the journal Nature on 26 June 2024, offer a potential lifeline for fast-declining populations like the green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea), which has disappeared from more than 90% of its former native range in Australia.
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A shortened version of a Macquarie University press release on EurekAlert published June 26, 2024; reproduced here and which originated the news item, provides more detail about the fungus and the role frog saunas could play in their survival, Note: A link has been removed,
Dr Anthony Waddle, a Schmidt Science Fellow at Macquarie University’s Applied BioSciences and lead author of the study, says very few interventions address the impacts of the international spread of the disease-causing chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd).
“In the 25 years since chytrid was identified as a major cause of the global collapse of amphibian populations, our results are the first to provide a simple, inexpensive and widely applicable strategy to buffer frogs against this disease,” Dr Waddle says.
Chytridiomycosis (chytrid) typically establishes itself permanently once it spreads to a new environment and has caused greater damage to global biodiversity than any other recorded disease or invasive species.
Of chytrid-stricken species worldwide, 90 have gone extinct or are presumed extinct in the wild. Another 124 species have declined in number by more than 90 percent.
Senior author Professor Rick Shine, from Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences says this study has demonstrated a simple intervention which can easily scale up, potentially helping reduce the impact of the deadly chytrid pandemic.
“Chytrid isn’t going away, but our behavioural ecology intervention can help endangered amphibians co-exist with chytridiomycosis in their ecosystems,” Professor Shine says.
The research team found artificial ‘hotspot’ shelters built from readily available materials, such as bricks and PVC greenhouses, can allow frogs to quickly ‘bake off’ infections with the chytrid fungus.
When frogs shifted to hotspot shelters, chytrid infections were reduced significantly.
“The whole thing is like a mini med spa for frogs,” says Dr Waddle.“In these simple little hotspots, frogs can go and heat up their bodies to a temperature that destroys the infections.
The study also showed that frogs who survive a chytrid infection can develop a form of acquired immunity, making them more resistant to future infections.
“Lowering mortality rates and boosting their immunity to chytrid is the key to protecting amphibians from this disease, which is now endemic around the world,” says Dr Waddle.
Dr Waddle says these simple ‘hotspot’ shelters are easy to reproduce, and the strategy can easily be scaled up with community involvement.
Professor Lee Skerratt, Professorial Fellow in Wildlife Bioscience at the University of Melbourne, says: “This research has great potential to be extrapolated to other endangered frog species threatened by chytridiomycosis, and demonstrates the value of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration in tackling this global problem.”
A June 27, 2024 Macquarie University press release by Fran Molloy, is an extended version on The Lighthouse – Macquarie University’s multi-media publishing platform – please credit when republishing) and is worth checking out for more details about the saunas and more photos,
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Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Hotspot shelters stimulate frog resistance to chytridiomycosis by Anthony W. Waddle, Simon Clulow, Amy Aquilina, Erin L. Sauer, Shannon W. Kaiser, Claire Miller, Jennifer A. Flegg, Patricia T. Campbell, Harrison Gallagher, Ivana Dimovski, Yorick Lambreghts, Lee Berger, Lee F. Skerratt & Richard Shine. Nature (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07582-y Published: 26 June 2024
This paper is behind a paywall.
University of Arkansas
From a July 29, 2024 University of Arkansas news release (also on EurekAlert), Note: Links have been removed,
As global diversity continues to decline due to a range of factors, amphibians have been particularly hard hit by infectious diseases. A pernicious fungal disease called chytridiomycosis, more commonly shortened to “chytrid,” has led to the extinction of 90 species of amphibians and has pushed another 500 species into decline.
New research, though, offers hope in the form of “frog saunas.” Imagine not a traditional wood sauna beloved by Finns and Estonians, but rather a large, sun-heated brick structure with cubby holes where frogs can find refuge from colder weather. During winter, chytrid hits frogs harder, and the researchers speculated that if green and golden bell frogs were given an opportunity to get warmer in artificial saunas, they would take it. It turns out not only would they take the opportunity, raising their body temperature helped them clear the infection as well.
Experiments were carried out in both lab and natural settings, where the frogs had both shaded and unshaded options and no inducement to access the saunas. But they took to the saunas like Finns in winter. The researchers also found that frogs that were initially infected and then fought off the infection after spending time in the sauna were significantly less likely to be reinfected.
The paper, “Hotspot shelters stimulate frog resistance to chytridiomycosis,” was published in Nature and has received a great deal of attention, having been covered by The New York Times, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, Science, and Popular Sciences. Of the 14 people listed as co-authors, 12 hail from Australia, where the research was conducted. The lone North American co-author is Erin Sauer, a postdoctoral fellow in biological sciences at the University of Arkansas.
In fact, the team’s work on frog saunas was inspired by Sauer’s previous research into how amphibian thermoregulatory behavior influences resistance to chytrid. For that study, done in 2018, Sauer designed thermal gradients she could keep frogs in for longer periods of time while measuring their thermal preferences. [emphasis mine]
In practical terms, this meant putting a Plexiglas lid on sections of aluminum gutter that had a heating element on one end and cooling element on the other, providing a range of temperatures in between the two ends. She ultimately found that species that preferred warmer temperatures were able to clear their infections when they hung out on the warmer parts of the thermal gradients.
“Anthony Waddle, the lead author on the Nature paper, got in touch with me because he wanted to build my thermal gradients in Australia and replicate my study with green and golden bell frogs,” Sauer explained. “So, I helped him design his set up and experiment in 2020-2021, and then helped with the data analysis for the lab study.
“Very similar to my 2018 study, we found that the green and golden bell frogs preferred warm temperatures and were able to better resist their chytrid infections at those warm temperatures. Anthony and his colleagues in Australia then applied the findings from the lab experiment to build the frog saunas and run the mesocosm experiment.” [emphasis mine]
While the findings suggest that the general public can play a role in saving green and golden bell frogs from extinction by building low-cost saunas in gardens or wetlands, Sauer cautions that this will not help all species of frogs [emphasis mine].
“My research has shown that while warm adapted species have better disease outcomes at warm temperatures, cold adapted species actually have worse outcomes at warm temperatures [emphasis mine],” Sauer said. “My colleagues and I have termed this phenomenon the ‘thermal mismatch hypothesis’ and did a global study testing our hypothesis across systems a few years ago that was published in Science. So, unfortunately, the frog saunas won’t work for all species but work beautifully for the warm-preferring green and golden bell frogs.”
Given that frogs in the region where I live are cold adapted, it’s good to know that frog saunas won’t be helpful to them. Thank you Dr. Sauer.