Presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in anurans from the Andes highlands of northern Chile

Abstract

© 2015, British Herpetological Society. All rights reserved. The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a causal agent of infectious disease and decline of anuran populations inhabiting mountain systems in Central and South America. The chytrid is believed to have spread from Ecuador southward, as has recently been detected in the Andean cordilleras of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. However, since the status of anuran populations from the Chilean Altiplano is unknown, we undertook an intensive survey of amphibian populations inhabiting high elevations in northern Chile. Bd-infected individuals were detected only in the northernmost localities sampled suggesting an ongoing process of Bd spread southward along the Andes.