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Frog saunas
Frog saunas
Hotter frogs are healthier
Hotter frogs are healthier
What if the old saying “noting a hot bath won’t cure” was true? Well, we have recently found that by simply providing a bit of warm habitat in winter, we can help curb the impacts of yearly epidemics of the chytrid fungus that kill countless frogs in Australia. We (an international team of scientists) devised a simple, cheap, and effective way to provide frogs with winter “saunas” that are attractive, allow them to increase their body temperatures, and reduce their infections.
Our first part of this research was to determine if the frogs wanted to be hot. So, we cooled the frogs down to mimic winter conditions and then put them in a thermal gradient comprised of a bit of a metal fencepost cover with a hot and cold end. The frogs were then placed inside where they could choose what temperature was the cosiest. We found that the frogs love to be hot (thermophilic for the terminology nerds). They chose around 30 degrees Celsius, which is a bit too much for chytrid to handle (chytrid likes it cold)
Next, we wanted to see what would happen to frogs' infections if they were inside thermal gradients? To our delight, chytrid had no chance on frogs inside thermal gradients and was quickly baked off.
We then thought, what if the frogs could do this in nature? We developed many different prototypes for hot shelters, but ultimately it was a horrendously simple pile of black bricks and a veggie greenhouse that won out. We call these frog saunas. The idea is that a frog will find this structure, snuggle up in one, increase its body temperature, and incinerate the infections. Will this work? To find out, we placed these into semi-wild outdoor enclosures called mesocosms and put frogs inside. They were a hit! Frogs flocked to them, heated themselves up, and reduced infections. With the tremendous harm that chytrid has caused in frogs around the world, this could be key to helping some species bounce back.
This research was recently published in the journal Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07582-y
To build your own frog sauna, see the step-by-step guide linked.
How to build a frog sauna.pdf
Pandemics and vaccines are common language these days. But, have you ever heard of frog vaccines?
For many chytrid impacted frog species, their existence in the wild is shaky; once the fungus invades it is virtually impossible to eradicate. So, this means that perfectly good habitat is suddenly inhospitable. In this scenario, classic conservation approaches such as captive breeding for release are often unsuccessful since release frogs catch the disease and die.
What can we do? For many species, extinction has been prevented by establishing frogs in captivity where their infections can be treated. But, maintaining species in captivity does not get at the core problem of chytrid - losing species' ecosystem function in the wild. We really need strategies for getting frogs back out in nature where they can function ecologically.
One strategy is to 'prime' frogs before release by giving them a protective inoculation. This can be done by giving frogs a low virulence chytrid strain that they can easily fight off; a similar approach has been successfully used in human immunizations (e.g. polio). Another strategy is to cure virulent infections using antifungals or heat. Both of these approaches have been shown to work well in leopard frogs from North America and a tree frog species from Australia.
Field trials are underway to assess how "vaccinations" may improve release success and overwinter survival of wild frogs.
Want to know more? Follow link below or contact us.
Genetic Interventions
Genetic Interventions
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