DO STOCKED GAME FISH SPREAD PATHOGENIC AQUATIC FUNGI THAT CAUSE MASS MORTALITY OF AMPHIBIAN EGGS?
WHO: David Pilliod – Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Jill McNeill, Vern Winston – Idaho State University, Bruce Bury, Chris Pearl – USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Sciences Center WHAT: The aquatic water mold Saprolegnia ferax is thought to cause mass embryonic mortality and amphibian declines in the Pacific Northwest. Some research suggests that S. ferax is a nonnative pathogen that has been introduced with hatchery game fish in mountain lakes, including protected wilderness areas. The transfer of the pathogen from fish to amphibians has now been confirmed. This project will be the first broad scale field study to examine the distribution of S. ferax in relation to introduced fish and will test four hypotheses using a combination of field surveys and newly developed molecular techniques for identification of fungal taxa to species and subspecies levels: 1. Saprolegnia ferax is present in lakes with stocked fish and absent in fishless lakes. 2. Saprolegnia ferax is the
