Habitat disturbance influences the skin microbiome of a rediscovered neotropical-montane frog.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The skin microbiome serves as a first line defense against pathogens in vertebrates. In amphibians, it has the potential to protect against the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatis (Bd), a likely agent of amphibian declines. Alteration of the microbiome associated with unfavorable environmental changes produced by anthropogenic activities may make the host more susceptible to pathogens. Some amphibian species that were thought to be "extinct" have been rediscovered years after population declines in the late 1980s probably due to evolved Bd-resistance and are now threatened by anthropogenic land-use changes. Understanding the effects of habitat disturbance on the host skin microbiome is relevant for understanding the health of these species, along with its suscept

SUBMITTER: Jimenez RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7509932 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature