Ché Weldon

TL;DR: A global, quantitative assessment of the amphibian chytridiomycosis panzootic demonstrates its role in the decline of at least 501 amphibian species over the past half-century and represents the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease.

TL;DR: Histologic evidence indicates southern Africa as the origin of the amphibian chytrid fungus, and it is likely that southern Africa is the birthplace of the fungus.

TL;DR: It is postulate that contact between previously genetically isolated allopatric populations of Bd may have allowed recombination to occur, resulting in the generation, spread, and invasion of the hypervirulent BdGPL leading to contemporary disease-driven losses in amphibian biodiversity.

TL;DR: This article used whole-genome sequencing to solve the spatiotemporal origins of the most devastating panzootic to date, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a proximate driver of global amphibian declines.

TL;DR: Stopping further global losses of amphibian populations and species requires an unprecedented conservation response.