SENSITIVE tests for the frog-killing chytrid fungus have been developed as part of the global campaign to save threatened frog populations.
The chytrid fungus has swept the world since the 1940s, helping drive at least nine species to extinction and threatening many more. It kills by either producing toxins or preventing frogs breathing through their skin. Until now, ecologists only knew a frog population was under attack once frogs started to sicken or die and laborious staining of sections of their skin revealed the presence of the fungus.
Now a test developed by Bruce Waldman, an ecologist at the University…
