Biologist Karen Lips Investigates Amphibian Extinction Mystery

Dr Lips among scientists featured at the National Geographic- "The Great Vanishing"

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Frogs are mysteriously disappearing from the planet, and UM biologist Karen Lips is racing against time to save them. One-third of the world's amphibians have already gone extinct, and more are disappearing each day. It's a crisis that has required Lips and her colleagues to act as detectives at a crime scene, investigating sites where they find the bodies of thousands of dead frogs to unravel what went wrong. The mass extinction of amphibians and the struggle to save those that remain is the focus of a new NATURE documentary that premiered on April 5th on PBS, which features Dr. Lips' research expertise. It also is the fo

Karen Lips, Associate Professor of Biology

While pollution and other environmental factors are taking their toll on frogs, Lips and colleagues discovered that it's an unusual fungus, called Chytridiomycosis (chytrid), that is causing massive frog die-offs in locations as disparate as Panama, Australia, and the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, these experts don't know where this fungus originated and don't know how to stop it. They do know that it likes cool, wet climates, where frogs also thrive, and that it spreads rapidly from one site to another.

The golden frog used to be common in Panama. Photocredit: Andrew Young Copyright © 1995 - 2008 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). All Rights Reserved

Once chytrid hits a region, the amphibian population can be wiped out within four months."The rate of spread is about 22 km/year, so we have less than five years before they are all gone," Lips says, referring to the remaining frog populations in Central America where she has been working as a"forensic ecologist" to predict the spread of chytrid throughout Costa Rica and Panama over the past 10 years. She works with fellow biologists who have evacuated frogs from the forests of Central Panama in order to save their lives. Today, their facility shelters 58 species of frogs- some of the rarest on earth.

Lips' research focuses on tracking the disease and documenting the resulting impact on ecosystems."Once amphibians are eliminated from an ecosystem, everything else changes," she explains."Snakes disappear, algae grows, sediments accumulate and affect water quality, we don't know yet how many of these changes are irrevocable."

In addition to her work in Central America, Lips is investigating the impact of the chytrid fungus in the U.S. and whether it caused the disappearance of several species of salamanders in the Appalachia region, which has the highest biodiversity of salamanders in the world.

Photocredit: Andrew Young Copyright © 1995 - 2008 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). All Rights Reserved

Lips believes that frogs in every place on earth will be impacted by this insidious fungus and hopes to gather as much information as possible to prevent its release and spread. She is looking for clues as to why some frog and amphibian species are so susceptible to the chytrid fungal infection and others are able to survive it."We're looking at genetics and habitat differences to find out the secret that gives some an edge over those that disappear," she says.

She and colleagues are also working with global policymakers to implement international trade regulations as a means to limit the spread of the disease."It's too late for many areas," Lips says soberly,"but we can do things to prevent the release of the fungus. We've got to do it, time is really running out."

Karen Lips is an Associate Professor of Biology with the University of Maryland College of Chemical and Life Sciences and will become Director of the CONS program.

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