Elizabeth C. Raff

Crawford and his colleagues describe an analysis of frog species in El Cope, Panama. “We discovered that 30 species were lost, including five undescribed species, representing 41 per cent of total amphibian lineage diversity in El Cope. The irony of increased species discovery coupled with enigmatic population declines in amphibians was recognised at least 10 years ago, “yet until now we have lacked quantitative data demonstrating the direct impact of epidemic disease on amphibian diversity and community phylogeny. Combining changes in species-specific abundance with DNA barcode identities permitted us to quantify the loss of individuals, lineages, and evolutionary history resulting from Chytridiomycosis,” they write. The disease has caused the loss of 25 species, 11 genera, and 4 families from El Cope, they believe. “Molecular data increased the number of extirpations recorded at El Cope by 20 per cent. Given that El Cope is one of the better-studied amphibian faunas in the Neotropics, the loss of undescribed species is likely far greater in sites that have not been the object of intensive investigation.”