MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Researchers say global warming is responsible for a fungus that has caused the extinction of harlequin frogs in parts of Central and South America.
A study in the journal Nature warns the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which lives on the frogs' skin, may be killing amphibians worldwide, a report in the journal Nature said.
The Monteverde harlequin frog vanished along with the golden toad 17 years ago from the mountains of Costa Rica.
An international research team led by Dr. Alan Pounds from Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and Tropical Science Center said climate change is promoting infectious disease and eroding biodiversity.
Between 1975 and 2000, air temperature for the tropics increased by 0.18 degrees per decade. The warming -- triple the average rate of warming for the 20th Century -- has raised the heights of cloud formation which may promote the growth of the fungi.
University of Oregon zoologist Andrew Blaustein says the frog crisis is "an amphibian alarm call" and a harbinger of much greater biological disruption.
"As global change is occurring at an unprecedented pace, we should expect many other host taxa, from ants to zebras, to be confronted with similar challenges," he said.
