A six-membered team went on a recess to locate populations of chytrid-affected frogs at Harishchandra Gadh near Pune. Fruitfully, the team located populations of frogs inside cave holes and collected swabs. The swabs were deposited at IISER, Pune for further analysis.

The Western Ghats is a stretch of 1600 km² land and is one of the richest amphibian hotspots of the 34-biodiversity hotspots of the world with 182 described species and several more under description.

As per the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria more than 43% of the species are threatened with extinction (16 Critically Endangered, 28 Endangered and 16 Vulnerable).

Most of the threatened species are highly restricted in their distribution with most of them found in less than five locations and facing several threats from habitat loss and decline in quality of habitat due to changes in land use and other human influenced activities.

The probability of chytrid entering the Western Ghats is greater now than in the last year or before as there have been recent evidences of the African Clawed Frog Xenopus laevis entering the country through the aquarium trade. Several instances of wanton release of this frog into the wild have been reported in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala parts of the Western Ghats (A. Padhye pers. comm.) in the last one-year. Since the species is imported from captive stocks, the provenance is unknown and therefore poses a very high threat to the native amphibians of the Western Ghats. Presently, there is deficiency of information on the diseases, which affect amphibian populations within the Western Ghats preventing diseases as a major threat to amphibian populations.

Swab collection. (a) Role division between the two sample collectors. (b) Swabs were collected from both the ventral and dorsal surface of the specimen.

Detecting Chytridiomycosis in the Western Ghats.
What is Chytridiomycosis?
It is a fungal disease that is threatening more than 200 species of amphibians.
Pathogen: Amphibian Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis).
Possible Vector: African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis); American Bull Frog (Lithobates catesbianus) and Tomistoma sp.

Project Objectives:
Identification of populations of amphibians affected by Chytridiomycosis
Standardising a non – invasive field sampling protocol.
Standardise lab protocols for rapid analysis of Chytrid swabs.
Formulate a policy document to aid the control of trade in exotic amphibians.
Formulate a Conservation Action Plan to save affected populations.

On – Going Work: Field surveys have been conducted in 19 locations across the Western Ghats and about 300 samples are underway for processing at IISER, Pune.

Future Goals: Develop In situ and Ex situ strategies for conservation of affected populations.
Conduct outreach programs on the ill-effects of exotic pet trade to the commons.

Challenges:In situ mitigation of fungal infections.
Implementation of the policy on import of exotic amphibians into the country.

Donors: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USA; IISER is helping in lab infrastruce and chemicals and recently WILD got one more grant from Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund which will be used to continue the work and establish a monitoring protocol. San Diego Zoo helped in kind initially with respect to supplying swabs and plasmid.

Report Download PDF