Fire alarm: Nasty infection threatens vulnerable salamanders
A fungus is threatening to wipe out Flanders’ fire salamanders, and the battle to save them is an uphill struggle
Keeping a close eye
For a few years, a new fungus has been looming over Flanders’ salamander population. Bsal (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans) has been detected in one spot in Flanders and several places in Wallonia.
The fire salamander (pictured), a beautiful black specimen marked with yellow dots, is especially vulnerable to Bsal infection. In just a few years, the fungus wiped out 99.9% of all the fire salamanders in the Netherlands.
The seriousness of the situation has led authorities to create a plan to tackle the threat. “The first important point is biosecurity,” says Muriel Vervaeke, of Flanders Nature and Forest Agency (ANB), which monitors disease among wildlife.
Worst-case scenario
“We talk to workers in nature reserves and nature enthusiasts about the problem and about how to properly disinfect their materials in order to avoid contamination,” she says. “The last thing we want to happen is that amateur amphibian researchers go from one pool to another and spread the infection with their nets.”
That brings Vervaeke to the second point of the plan: infected pools will be closed to the public for activities like studying amphibians. “For the rest, we will be keeping a close eye on possible infection, both by our staff and by others.”
The agency has set up a research project at Ghent University to monitor the pathogen in Flanders, she says, “and to study the impact of infection among the Flemish fire salamander and other amphibians”.
The last thing we want is for amateur researchers to go from one pool to another and spread the infection
In the Netherlands, she explains, some populations of fire salamanders have been taken out of their natural habitats to see if it makes sense to cultivate them in a controlled environment and release them later. “We might do the same, but we are waiting for their findings.”
Still, it is unclear whether these measures will stop Bsal from wiping out the fire salamander in Flanders. The fact that the region’s salamander populations are relatively small and isolated might be an advantage. But little is known about how the fungus spreads.
“There are strong indications that Bsal originates from Asian amphibians, which are not harmed by it but are sold here in Europe,” explains Vervaeke. “We are figuring out how to enforce a ban on importing Asian amphibians, but it is not so easy to put this in a legal framework.”
It is extremely difficult, she concludes, “to stop such an infection in the wild, but in the worst-case scenario, our efforts can be a lesson for similar situations in the future”.
Photo courtesy ANB
