Anthropogenic trade and development have broken down dispersal barriers, facilitating the spread of diseases that threaten Earth's biodiversity. We present a global, quantitative assessment of the amphibian chytridiomycosis panzootic, one of the most impactful examples of disease spread, and demonstrate its role in the decline of at least 501 amphibian species over the past half-century, including 90 presumed extinctions. The effects of chytridiomycosis have been greatest in large-bodied, range-restricted anurans in wet climates in the Americas and Australia. Declines peaked in the 1980s, and only 12% of declined species show signs of recovery, whereas 39% are experiencing ongoing decline. There is risk of further chytridiomycosis outbreaks in new areas. The chytridiomycosis panzootic represents the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease.

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Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity

Relatorio de Unidade Curricular, apresentado para Provas de Agregacao em Biologia, na especialidade de Ecologia, da Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra

Biologia da Conservação

Venoms of Micrurus coral snakes: evolutionary trends in compositional patterns emerging from proteomic analyses

Effects of glyphosate and its commercial formulation, Roundup® Ultramax, on liver histology of tadpoles of the neotropical frog, Leptodactylus latrans (amphibia: Anura).

Snakebite envenoming is an important public health problem worldwide and addressing this issue has turned into a challenge for applied science. In this sense, the study of the distributional patterns of problematic snakes is central in terms of public health. Global Climate Change is affecting the distributional ranges of snakes, so that decisions regarding treatment of ophidism (poisoning by snake venom) may also change spatially and/or temporally. Here, we assessed suitable climate spaces at present conditions and estimated potential future changes in the distributions of the five southernmost venomous snakes, responsible for almost 99 % of accidents in Argentina, by implementing an ensemble of forecasts between different algorithms and scenarios for 2030 and 2080. Present suitable climate spaces showed high concordance with known distribution of the species. Future projections show moderate “north to south” displacements of the snakes’ suitable climate spaces, implying potential increments of suitable spaces in human populated areas in Argentina. Our results suggest the necessity of considering ophidism as a dynamic problem. In this regard, the analyses implemented here are useful tools in improving the assessment of snakebite envenoming in light of global climate change.

Venomous snakes and climate change: ophidism as a dynamic problem

Fil: Vaira, Marcos. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Facultad de Ingenieria. Centro de Investigaciones Basicas y Aplicadas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales. Museo de Ciencias Naturales. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA; Argentina

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Categorización del estado de conservación de los anfibios de la República Argentina

After more than a decade from the first Red List of the Herpetofauna of Argentina assessed in 2000, we reclassified the two species of argentine caimans, starting from actual information about their biology, biogeography and ecology and including methodological adjustments. As a result, both species Caiman latirostris and C. yacare were included in the Not Endangered category, based on new records about their geographic distribution and populations densities. The criteria applied to the development of management programs of crocodilians in Argentina has improved the knowledge of both species and made a great and wide contribution to several aspects of their biology. The sustainable use of both species of crocodilians has proved to have a minimum impact on wild populations and has put a new value on the wetlands inhabited by this reptiles.

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Walter S. Prado

Papers

Categorización del estado de conservación de los anfibios de la República Argentina

Categorización del estado de conservación de los caimanes (yacarés) de la República Argentina