Assessing mitigation options for an emerging fungal pathogen threatening European and Palearctic salamander diversity

Emerging wildlife diseases represent both a major driver of global biodiversity loss and one of the greatest challenges to conservation science. In spite of the recognized extent and magnitude of disease-driven declines worldwide, and of the considerable research targeting them, successful mitigation remains elusive. The amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) causes lethal chytridiomycosis in several palearctic salamander species. This pathogen, believed to have recently entered Europe from its native range in Asia, has already driven the rapid collapse of populations of fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) in the Low Countries and threatens to cause massive b…