Fungus Killing Snakes in Eastern and Midwestern U.S. Is Pinpointed

A new federal study documents for the first time that a specific fungus is the cause of a disease that is killing an unusually high number of snakes in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. The findings announced Tuesday by the U.S. Geological Survey determined that a fungus known as Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola is the cause behind the skin infections known as snake-fungal disease. Outbreaks of the sometimes fatal disease have been confirmed over the past decade in nine states: Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. By pinpointing the cause of the disease, scientists can better help conserve snake populations threatened by the disease that play an important role in the environment, said Jeffrey Lorch, a USGS National Wildlife Health Center scientist and lead author of the study published in the online journal mBio. Among other benefits, snakes help keep rodent populations in check and serve as a food source for other predators including hawks and eagles, scientists say. “We don’t know what will happen if snakes disappear, but there is a concern it could be bad for the ecosystem as a whole,” said Mr. Lorch, who is based in Madison, Wis. Rising snake mortality has been a concern world-wide. A 2010 study by Britain’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology documented “alarming” declines in 17 snake populations from the U.K. to France, Italy, Nigeria and Australia.

Source: WSJ, 17 November 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fungus-killing-snakes-in-eastern-and-midwes…