Puschendorf, R;
Wallace, M;
Chavarría, MM;
Crawford, A;
Wynne, F;
Knight, M;
Janzen, D;
... Price, S; + view all
(2019)
Cryptic diversity and ranavirus infection of a critically endangered Neotropical frog before and after population collapse.
Animal Conservation
, 22
(5)
pp. 515-524.
10.1111/acv.12498.
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Abstract
Mesoamerican amphibian declines in apparently pristine and protected habitats have been severe, especially at elevations above 500 m sea level and have been linked to emerging diseases and a changing climate. The Craugastor punctariolus species series of direct developing frogs is endemic to the region and used to be comprised of 33 species, seven of which have known populations at present. One of these, Craugastor ranoides, endemic to southern Nicaragua and Costa Rica, was historically found in cloud forest sites of Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in north-west Costa Rica and extended into dry forest sites 20 km distant. Here C. ranoides declined and disappeared from high elevation sites between the late 1980s and early 1990s, but populations persisted in the lowland dry forest. We compared the genetic richness and ranavirus infection status of C. ranoides from extant dry forest populations to historic museum specimens of now extinct ACG cloud forest populations using DNA sequence diversity at two mitochondrial loci and molecular screening for ranavirus. Extant dry forest populations of C. ranoides formed a monophyletic group which included historic specimens sampled at cloud forest sites. However, the extirpated ACG cloud forest population contained additional diversity: samples formed a divergent clade with unknown spatial distribution. Ranavirus was detected in both current and museum samples of C. ranoides and sequences from a 267-nucleotide region of the major capsid protein gene shared 100% sequence identity with one another and with Frog virus 3. Our findings document cryptic diversity within an endangered species that has demonstrated no recovery in cloud forests and raises questions about Ranavirus as a potential driver of amphibian decline in this system. The presence of the same C. ranoides clade within present day and historical samples suggests a potential for effective translocation and repopulation of extirpated cloud forest populations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Cryptic diversity and ranavirus infection of a critically endangered Neotropical frog before and after population collapse |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/acv.12498 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12498 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Amphibian declines, ranavirosis, Frog virus 3, Craugastor ranoides, Costa Rica, cryptic diversity |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10070987 |
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