Amphibian disease and declines: Chytridiomycosis

Abstract

Chytridiomycosis is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a unique fungal organism of the phylum Chytridiomycota, a large group of ubiquitous fungi better known as silent digesters of organic waste or as parasites of nematodes and unicellular organisms such as pollen or algae. Chytr is the Greek root for earthen pot, Batracho ? frog and dendrobates the genus of frogs from which it was first formally described in 1999. When viewed with a scanning electron microscope it is easy to understand the origins of the name chytrid given to this group of fungi.