Table 1.
Number of adult Crawfish Frogs sampled per pond per year.
Figure 1.
The number of times individual Crawfish Frogs were sampled for Bd across our dataset.
Most frogs were sampled once or twice, one frog was sampled eight times.
Table 2.
Rates of Bd-positive adults entering and exiting Nate's Pond and Cattail Pond in 2009 and 2010.
Table 3.
Summary of Crawfish Frogs arranged according to Bd infection status (Positive or Negative) as they entered and exited wetlands, by wetland and by year.
Table 4.
The Bd infection histories of five Crawfish Frogs, two from Cattail Pond, three from Nate's Pond, sampled in both 2009 and 2010.
Figure 2.
Zoospore equivalents for the 16 frogs with the highest rates of Bd infection (>100 zoospore equivalents).
Values are averages of three analyses from the same swab; where multiple swabs were performed at different times on the same animal, the swab with the highest zoospore equivalents was used. Black bars are animals from Nate's Pond, gray bars are from Cattail Pond. Numbers above bars are maximum zoospore equivalents of animals that died from Bd infection. Animals with zoospore equivalents near or >10,000 that we did not find dead (numbers 12 and 16), were last observed leaving breeding wetlands. Animals with zoospore equivalents <100 did not show clinical signs of the disease.
Figure 3.
A simple model showing the patterns of Bd gain and loss in Crawfish Frogs based on our data.
Red box indicates highest rate of Bd infection, blue box indicates cleared or low-level infection, purple box indicates intermediate level infection. Note that following breeding, infected frogs lose the disease during the summer when their activity is centered at the burrow entrance. During the winter, frogs inhabit the water at the base of the burrow, where a subset of animals re-acquire the disease. These infected animals then transmit Bd to their breeding wetland during relatively short (from a few hours to several days) migrations. In breeding wetlands, a subset of animals acquire Bd and a subset shed the disease, but most Crawfish Frogs maintain their status (Bd positive or negative). Some animals exiting wetlands develop chytridiomycosis and die. Exiting juvenile Crawfish Frogs were generally Bd negative (1% infection rate). Juveniles may be exposed to Bd while overwintering during the ≥two years (males) or ≥three years (females) prior to their first breeding attempts, or they may become exposed during their first breeding attempts. Once young Crawfish Frogs begin breeding, they follow the model outlined for breeding adults.