title: Mitigating amphibian chytridiomycoses in nature.
abstract: Amphibians across the planet face the threat of population decline and extirpation caused by the disease chytridiomycosis. Despite consensus that the fungal pathogens responsible for the disease are conservation issues, strategies to mitigate their impacts in the natural world are, at best, nascent. Reducing risk associated with the movement of amphibians, non-amphibian vectors and other sources of infection remains the first line of defence and a primary objective when mitigating the threat of disease in wildlife. Amphibian-associated chytridiomycete fungi and chytridiomycosis are already widespread, though, and we therefore focus on discussing options for mitigating the threats once disease emergence has occurred in wild amphibian populations. All strategies have shortcomings that need to be overcome before implementation, including stronger efforts towards understanding and addressing ethical and legal considerations. Even if these issues can be dealt with, all currently available approaches, or those under discussion, are unlikely to yield the desired conservation outcome of disease mitigation. The decision process for establishing mitigation strategies requires integrated thinking that assesses disease mitigation options critically and embeds them within more comprehensive strategies for the conservation of amphibian populations, communities and ecosystems.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience'.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, NW1 4RY London, UK trent.garner@ioz.ac.uk.|Unit for Environmental Research and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
authors.forename: Trenton W J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0336-9706
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Garner
authors.affiliation: Karch, Passage Maximilien-de-Meuron 6, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.|Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Benedikt R
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4023-1001
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pasmans
authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Fort Collins, 2150 Centre Avenue Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Muths
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, NW1 4RY London, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: Unit for Environmental Research and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
authors.forename: Che
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weldon
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1862-6402
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bosch
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians; D000818:Animals; D008411:Chytridiomycota / Q000502:physiology*; D009181:Mycoses / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: chytridiomycosis; conservation strategy; mitigation