The recovery of a frog species driven to near-extinction by disease has delighted conservationists, and those efforts have also charted a path to stop other amphibians from disappearing.
As the University of California detailed, yellow-legged frogs were once the most common amphibian in the high elevation portion of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but a fungal disease wiped them out from 90% of the species' historical range.
However, thanks to reintroduction efforts — involving bringing frogs resistant to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis to locations where populations were previously decimated — the frogs are thriving once more.
It's great news for an animal that is vital to the ecosystem, and UC Santa Barbara biologist Roland Knapp is excited about what these successful efforts could mean for other threatened species.
"These results provide a rare example of how reintroduction of resistant individuals can allow the landscape-scale recovery of disease-impacted species and have broad implications for amphibians and many other taxa that are threatened with extinction by novel pathogens," Knapp said.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or amphibian chytrid fungus, is a human-driven pathogen that has brought many amphibia class species to extinction, with others teetering on the brink. But there is now hope for reversing this decline, and the recovery of the yellow-legged frogs is a clear indication of what's possible.
"It's mind-blowing considering where we were 10 or 15 years ago, when we weren't sure if we were going to have this frog on the landscape anymore, to see how things are turning around," Knapp added. "It's incredible to see."
The loss of one animal species can have severe knock-on effects on wider biodiversity, which might not be fully realized until it's too late.
Other similar initiatives to save and restore animal species have also proved successful. In the Caribbean, for example, 12 species heading toward extinction have been brought back thanks to habitat restoration.
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Meanwhile, in Portugal and Spain, Iberian lynx are thriving again after dedicated efforts to stop the trapping and killing of the species.
It all goes to show that nature is extremely resilient, but it needs assistance to be able to survive. Even if human actions have previously put animals at risk, there are numerous cases in which positive intervention can stop these creatures from being seen only behind glass in museums.
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