In collaboration with Karen Pope (US Forest Service) and Caren Goldberg (WSU-Pullman), we will be developing environmental DNA methodologies for assessing amphibian occupancy in mountain meadows. These methods can be used to assess the efficacy of meadow restoration targeting at-risk amphibian species.
Jonah attended the 2017 Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Honolulu Hawaii last week. He gave a presentation on ongoing research into the effects of seaweed deposition on island food web dynamics in the Bahamas as part of a session on “Interactive effects of anthropogenic stressors across ecosystem boundaries” (http://www.sgmeet.com/aslo/honolulu2017/sessionschedule.asp?SessionID=034).
Two new papers on amphibian disease ecology are out. The first one (de Leon et al. EcoHealth) shows that the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis first appears in northern California Cascades frogs shortly before widespread declines were noticed in the region. The second one (Piovia-Scott et al. Microbial Ecology) shows that more diverse communities of bacterial skin symbionts of amphibians are more effective at limiting the growth of a fungal pathogen.
Welcomes to our new postdoc John Romansic! John will be working on amphibian disease ecology and aquatic-terrestrial linkages.
de Leon, M.E., V. Vredenburg, J. Piovia-Scott. Recent emergence of a chytrid fungal pathogen in California Cascades frogs (Rana cascadae).
Congratulations Marina!
Both Kim and Jonah gave presentations on the lab’s research at the annual amphibian disease meeting at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona:
“Non-lethal isolation of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis from Cascades frogs” Kimberly Cook, Heather Kenny, Karen Pope, Karina Exton, and Jonah Piovia-Scott.
“Disease, climate, and Cascades frog declines in northern California” Jonah Piovia-Scott, Karen Pope.
Heather will be back with us for a couple of months before she moves on to more bird research.
Jonah attended the Mountain Climate Conference (MtnClim) in Leavenworth, WA last week and gave a talk about climate change and montane amphibians (http://www.mtnclim.org/).
Jennifer is an undergraduate student at WSUV and will be working in the lab as a research intern, primarily focusing on interactions between Cascades frogs and the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Welcome Jennifer!
We are looking to hire a postdoc (click here for details) and would like to encourage prospective graduate students to apply to start in Fall 2017.