Biologists have rid a wild toad species of a lethal fungal disease that threatens amphibians around the world.
The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has wiped out many species of frogs and toads. Jaime Bosch at Spain's National Museum of Natural History in Madrid and his team removed tadpoles of the midwife toad (Alytes muletensis; pictured) from ponds on the Spanish island of Mallorca and treated them in the lab with a drug that kills the fungus. They also drained the ponds and sprayed them with a disinfectant before returning the tadpoles. The fungus disappeared in four out of five treated ponds for two years.
The method may work only in some habitats, the authors say.
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Toads saved from killer fungus. Nature 527, 412 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/527412c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/527412c
