Os Cangaceiros
28th August 2011, 22:53
Researchers at the Oregon State University have discovered a freshwater organism that might be the key to fight a fungus, which is the principal cause for the worldwide amphibian decline.
A freshwater species of zooplankton, called Daphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of the deadly fungus whose impact, one researcher has called, "the most spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history."
Daphnia magna is a variety of water fleas of the genus Daphnia, some species of which are commonly used as food for aquarium fish.
It was known that the zooplankton could devour some types of fungi. Oregon researchers wanted to find out whether Daphnia magna could also consume the chytrid fungus that's been devastating amphibian populations worldwide, including Colorado's endangered boreal toad. Through extensive research, scientists confirmed that Daphnia magna could consume the free swimming pores of the fungal pathogen.
http://img.ibtimes.com/www/articles/20110827/204929_aquatic-water-fleas-protect-amphibians-stop-extinction-biological-control-disease-fungus.htm
A freshwater species of zooplankton, called Daphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of the deadly fungus whose impact, one researcher has called, "the most spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history."
Daphnia magna is a variety of water fleas of the genus Daphnia, some species of which are commonly used as food for aquarium fish.
It was known that the zooplankton could devour some types of fungi. Oregon researchers wanted to find out whether Daphnia magna could also consume the chytrid fungus that's been devastating amphibian populations worldwide, including Colorado's endangered boreal toad. Through extensive research, scientists confirmed that Daphnia magna could consume the free swimming pores of the fungal pathogen.
http://img.ibtimes.com/www/articles/20110827/204929_aquatic-water-fleas-protect-amphibians-stop-extinction-biological-control-disease-fungus.htm