Frogs v killer fungus: Winning the battle but losing the war?

In the 1970s, a silent killer invaded Australia. The amphibian chytrid fungus has since extinguished several Australian frog species and crashed amphibian populations here and globally. Are scientists winning the 50-year battle against the fungus? Are amphibians losing against larger forces of climate change and habitat destruction anyway? What does this mean for the webs of life they support? Are there more biosecurity threats massing on our borders?

On Wednesday 26 June, Professor Lee Skerratt, Professorial Research Fellow (Wildlife Biosecurity) in the Melbourne Veterinary School, moderated an insightful discussion between Associate Professor Lee Berger, Principal Research Fellow (Wildlife Health and Conservation), Dr Matt West, Research Fellow (Amphibian Ecology) in the School of BioSciences, and Mr Deon Gilbert, Threatened Species Biologist (Herpetofauna) at Zoos Victoria.

^{L-R:  Dr Matt West, Associate Professor Lee Berger, Professor Moira O'Bryan (Dean of Science), Mr Deon Gilbert and Professor Lee Skerratt}