Whitney Adam

Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate class, with over 40% of all species threatened with extinction. The most prominent threats they face include climate change, habitat loss, and disease, most notably Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a fungal pathogen commonly referred to as Bd. Bd has been implicated in at least 90 amphibian extinctions and the decline of over 500 amphibian species globally, especially in cool and moist climates where the fungus can thrive. The cloud forest of Cusuco National Park has the ideal climate for Bd , yet the park is becoming less hospitable to amphibians due to climate change and habitat destruction. The introduction of Bd to the park and ongoing habitat degradation have led to severe population declines and extinction risks for many of Cusuco’s endemic and charismatic amphibian species.

My goal is to evaluate the consequences faced by Cusuco amphibians in response to these threats, while also supporting their active conservation. I am working to identify the abiotic interactions that drive disease outcomes in Cusuco, quantify the sublethal effects of ongoing threats on amphibian health, estimate remaining gene flow and adaptive potential in a few species, and support mitigation strategies. As part of this project, I will provide updated prevalence estimates for all amphibians in the park using skin swabbing and qPCR. I am currently using Bayesian modelling to estimate changes in body size and condition over the past two decades, and I will expand these models to investigate how Bd status and habitat quality metrics interact with each other and my two metrics of amphibian health. I am also collecting buccal swabs, a minimally invasive genetic sample type, so that I can quantify remaining gene flow and genetic diversity in my three focal species using RADseq. These results will help inform the ex situ efforts at the Honduran Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center (HARCC). This collaboration, along with other collaborations supporting my adaptation of a novel in situ strategy, allows my project to provide direct, applied conservation implications.