We are excited to announce that Gustavo Ruano Fajardo, a Ph.D. student in the Catenazzi Lab at Florida International University (FIU), has been awarded a prestigious fellowship from the WWF: the Education for Nature Fonseca Leadership Program. This competitive program, supported by the Global Environment Facility, provides financial support to emerging researchers in Latin America for graduate studies in conservation. Gustavo's research focuses on amphibian-bromeliad interactions. His work aims to explore amphibian threats posed by climate change and disease in this microhabitat, offering new insights into amphibian conservation. Congratulations, Gustavo!

Isabel Diaz attended the Applied Hierarchical Modeling workshop at the University of Michigan from July 22-26. The workshop was led by experts Ken Kellner, Marc Kéry, Andy Royle, and Josh Twining, who provided valuable tools and techniques for applying Bayesian techniques to demographic analyses. These insights will aid in studying the montane frog communities in Peru. We are excited to see the results of her work following this training.

A new study and lab contribution published today in Plos Biology offers a significant leap forward in our understanding of the world's tetrapods, a group encompassing amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. These creatures are crucial models for studying global biodiversity, but research has been hampered by incomplete and inconsistent data.

The challenge lies in the vast number of species – over 33,000 – combined with ongoing changes in how they are classified and limited standardization of data collection. This has led to missing information and potential biases in ecological and conservation studies. To address this issue, researchers led by Dr. Mario Moura developed TetrapodTraits 1.0.0, a comprehensive database that integrates information on various aspects of tetrapod biology, including: body size, activity patterns, habitat preferences, ecosystem type, threat status, geographic distribution, sensitivity to island environments, environmental preferences, and human impact.

Citation: Moura, M. R. , K. Ceron, J. J. M. Guedes, R. Chen-Zhao, Y. V. Sica, J. Hart, W. Dorman, J. M. Portmann, P. Gonzalez-del-Pliego, A. Ranipeta, A. Catenazzi, F. P. Werneck, L. F. Toledo, N. S. Upham, J. F. R. Tonini, T. J. Colston, R. Guralnick, R. C. K. Bowie, R. A. Pyron, W. Jetz. 2024. A phylogeny-informed characterization of global tetrapod traits addresses data gaps and biases. Plos Biology 22(7):  e3002658. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002658

The lab contributed to the latest version of the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP) by co-authoring chapter six on infectious disease. Emerging infectious diseases pose a critical threat to amphibian biodiversity, driving population declines and extinctions. The chapter of the ACAP synthesizes recent advancements in understanding these diseases, focusing on pathogen characteristics, host responses, and environmental influences. We examine current diagnostic tools, explore ecological factors relevant to effective management, and evaluate proposed intervention strategies. Additionally, we address the human dimensions of amphibian disease, including management and policy actions needed to mitigate disease-driven declines at local and global scales, ultimately emphasizing the urgent need for integrated conservation efforts. 

Citation: ​Bletz, M. C., B. Gratwicke, A. M. Belasen , A. Catenazzi, , A. L. J. Duffus, M. Lampo, D. H. Olson , F. Toledo, K. Vasudevan. 2024. Infectious diseases: Advances and challenges in addressing emerging pathogens. Pages 149-179 in: Wren, S., A. Borzée, R. Marcec-Greaves, A. Angulo. Amphibian conservation action plan : a status review and roadmap for global amphibian conservation. Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland, 354 pp. doi: https://doi.org/10.2305/QWVH271

Rachel gave a talk at the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles meeting in Ann Arbor, titled "Lack of innate and learned avoidance of the chytrid fungus in the strawberry poison frog". Congrats Rachel!

Congratulations to Gustavo for winning a Parker Travel Grant for his work in the montane forests of Guatemala!

The Committee of the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research awarded Gustavo a grant in the amount of $5,000 in support of his proposed research with bromeliad-dwelling salamanders in Guatemala. Recipients of grants are known as Lewis and Clark Field Scholars. Congratulations Gustavo!

However, genetic and morphological analysis demonstrates these frogs belong to a different evolutionary lineage than Pristimantis phoxocephalus. The combination of their unique snout shape, bumpy skin texture, and specific color patterns allows scientists to definitively distinguish them from similar frogs found throughout Peru and Ecuador.
“The discovery of these new species underscores the importance of ongoing biodiversity research in the Andes,” said lab PI Catenazzi. “These fragile ecosystems harbor a wealth of unknown creatures, and further exploration is crucial for their conservation.”
FIU and the Instituto Peruano de Herpetologa are committed to ongoing research efforts that document and protect the remarkable biodiversity of the Andean cloud forests. Alessandro is the current Half-Earth Chair with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

Anne brilliantly defended her dissertation titled Investigating the effects of urbanization on the life history of an invasive amphibian. Her research investigated how urbanization and pollutants affect invasive Cuban tree frogs. She measured life history traits and telomere length (cellular aging marker) in frogs from different habitats and found no effect. She also tested the effects of carbon nanoparticles and microplastics on tadpole development and telomere length. Overall, Cuban tree frogs appear to be very resilient to the tested stressors. The study highlights the complexity of amphibian telomere dynamics and the need for further research on more amphibian species. Congrats Dr. Sabol!