RACE project: Fire salamanders under threat from deadly skin-eating fungus

A paper is just out in PNAS featuring a study that was cofunded by Biodiversa to the project RACE. Matthew Fisher, coordinator of the RACE project and co-author of the study cofunded by BiodiVERsA explains: “It is a complete mystery why we are seeing this outbreak now, and one explanation is that the new salamander-killing fungus has invaded the Netherlands from elsewhere in the world. We need to know if this is the case, why it is so virulent, and what its impact on amphibian communities will be on a local and global scale. Our experience with Bd has shown that fungal diseases can spread between amphibian populations across the world very quickly. We need to act urgently to determine what populations are in danger and how best to protect them.”