Detection of the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, on recently metamorphosed amphibians in the north-central United States.

Abstract/Summary

We sampled recently metamorphosed amphibians for the presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) at 75 unique breeding sites across five general areas within the north-central United States: 1) Voyageurs National Park (MN), 2) the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (WI, MN), 3) the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (WI, MN, IA, IL), 4) northern Iowa, and 5) southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 and 2007. We swabbed individual metamorphs of nine amphibian species: Bufo americanus, Acris crepitans, the Hyla chrysoscelis-versicolor complex, Pseudacris triseriata, Rana catesbeiana, R. clamitans, R. septentrionalis, R. pipiens, and R. sylvatica using standard, clean methods and submitted the swabs to Pisces Molecular LLC (Boulder, Colorado) for PCR analyses. Bd was detected on at least one species at 34 of 75 sites (45%) and in 4 of the 5 general areas sampled. Bd was detected most often on R. clamitans (23 of 27 sites) and R. septentrionalis (7 of 9 sites) in relatively moderate to heavy quantities. The remaining detections also were on ranids, in relatively small quantities on R. pipiens (5 of 39 sites) and R. sylvatica (6 of 9 sites) and in moderate quantities on R. catesbeiana (1 of 2 sites). Bd was not detected on B. americanus, A. crepitans, H. chrysoscelis/versicolor, and P. triseriata.