Another wildlife catastrophe in the making?

I see from today's BBC news website that another fungus which looks set to cause problems for our native wildlife has made it over here from America.
We have already imported a fungus spread by the Americal Signal Crayfish which is successfully decimating all colonies of our own White-Clawed version and now a fungus deadly to frogs has been found in the wild over here for the first time. It looks to have arrived on Americal Bullfrogs which somehow appeared in a couple of lakes in the South East of the UK somewhere... When WILL people learn not to put non-native animals into out water systems. The poor old frogs in the UK are already declining, even without this setback. The way it's going, we won't have any British wildlife soon... we'll be over-run by larger illegal "aliens". Americal Mink are largely responsible for reducing our water vole population - that was another disaster.
I hope they manage to nip the problem in the bud, but if no action is taken quickly, it's bound to finish up spreading as fast as the Signal Crays have.

Trevor, is this a typical spore producing fungus or hopefully does it have another way of procreation?
If it is spore producing are the spores capable of becoming airbourne?

If the answer is yes then it is probably too late!

Couldn't agree more Trevor and it looks like Ireland could be following our fate with the introduction of carp in their lochs.

Hi FG... (is that Mr. Normal by any chance?):
I believe the Fungus spreads by zoospores (which can actively swim). These can live in water for weeks before coming into contact with another amphibian and so spread the disease. They can even remain active in tapwater for 3 weeks, but in a lake environment can survive for at least tice as long due to the extra nutrients available.
I doubt if these would survive as airbourne spores, but if a frog hops from one water to another (or a bird gets some on it's legs before visiting another water) it could spread very easily. In a flowing river system, the situation would obviously be even worse. A rainy period with associated movement of frogs and toads would also make the problem worse.
There are few methods of killing off the fungus, but most would also probably kill other organisms (including fish). It's also a bit difficult to heat a lake up to 50C for half an hour (one of the successful methods)!!!

Trevor, nice to know my legend spreads; probably just like the fungus you mentioned.

So it is probably RIP to the native amphibian population just like our native Crayfish. I don't know about you but I remember using Crays as an excellent Chub bait. The Signal variety are just too big and vicious.

My nipper has been having great fun catching(and releasing) plenty of small frogs and toads in the Wye valley this summer......it will be sad if this bit of boyhood fun disapears for future generations........when will we learn to look after what we have??????

I saw a post on the BBC nature website that is possibly linking the release of the frog with the virus to those bought back here from as early as 1939 for fertility testing. Apparently they injected a sample of female urine under them which would then cause the frog to produce eggs if the correct hormones were there.

When will the mad scientists start leaving nature alone??

The frog used for "pregnancy testing" (I think is what you must be referring to) was Xenopus laevis. A completely aquatic frog from Africa. They've not been utilised for some years now as preg testing techniques have moved on. Think it's unlikely that a "recent virus" would be emanating from a frog consistently bred in captivity for over 50 years.
The American Bullfrog was embargoed from import some years ago, but may possibly be responsible. The truth is, no-one knows for sure still. I know several researchers on this topic and there's still no clue as to what's going on. There is a worldwide decline in amphibians, unfortunately the "bunny-hugging" BBC nature editors/contributors will latch onto any theory put forward (by anybody) if it makes good "scare" copy.

My opinion: don't believe it.

Apart from which: how many "native" UK species were originally introduced anyway, which we now take for granted?
Rabbits/Mink/Fallow Deer/Grey Squirrel/Pheasant/Signal Crays/Carp/Zander/Sparrows.......the list is endless. I don't think it's worth getting too worked up over......but I'd be up for the re-introduction of native Wolves and Beavers!