Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity

Anthropogenic trade and development have broken down dispersal barriers, facilitating the spread of diseases that threaten Earth's biodiversity. We present a global, quantitative assessment of the amphibian chytridiomycosis panzootic, one of the most impactful examples of disease spread, and demonstrate its role in the decline of at least 501 amphibian species over the past half-century, including 90 presumed extinctions. The effects of chytridiomycosis have been greatest in large-bodied, range-restricted anurans in wet climates in the Americas and Australia. Declines peaked in the 1980s, and only 12% of declined species show signs of recovery, whereas 39% are experiencing ongoing decline. There is risk of further chytridiomycosis outbreaks in new areas. The chytridiomycosis panzootic represents the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease.B.C.S. and D.B.L. were supported by the Australian National Environmental Science Program. L.B., L.F.S., T.A.K., and B.C.S. were supported by the Australian Research Council (grants FT100100375, LP110200240, and DP120100811), the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and the Taronga Conservation Science Initiative. S.C., W.B., A.M., and F.P. were supported by Research Foundation Flanders grants FWO3E001916 and FWO11ZK916N‐11ZK918N and Ghent University grant BOF16/GOA/024. S.C. was supported by Research Foundation Flanders grant FWO16/PDO/019. A.A.A. was supported by the Conservation Leadership Program (0621310), Vicerrectoría de Investigaciones, Universidad de Pamplona-Colombia, and Colciencias (1121-659-44242). T.C. was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. A.C. was supported by the Amazon Conservation Association, the Amphibian Specialist Group, the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, the Eppley Foundation, the Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the NSF, the Rufford Small Grants Foundation, and the Swiss National Foundation. I.D.l.R. was supported by the Spanish Government (CGL2014-56160-P). M.C.F. was supported by the NERC (NE/K014455/1), the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2014-273), and the Morris Animal Foundation (D16ZO-022). S.V.F. was supported by the USFWS Wildlife without Borders (96200-0-G228), the AZA–Conservation Endowment Fund (08-836), and the Conservation International Critically Endangered Species Fund. P.F.Á. was supported by a Postdoctoral Research fellowship from the Mexican Research Council (CONACYT, 171465). T.W.J.G. was supported by the NERC (NE/N009967/1 and NE/K012509/1). J.M.G. was supported by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (collaboration grants 11164 and 5447). M.H. was supported by scholarships from the Elsa-NeumannFoundation and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). C.A.M. was supported by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics. G.P.-O. was supported by DGAPA-UNAM and CONACYT while on sabbatical at the University of Otago, New Zealand. C.L.R.-Z. was supported by the NSF (1660311). S.M.R. was supported by a CONACYT Problemas Nacionales grant (PDCPN 2015-721) and a UC Mexus-Conacy cooperative grant. C.S.-A. was supported by the Chilean National Science and Technology Fund (Fondecyt no. 1181758). L.F.T. was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP 2016/25358-3) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq 300896/2016-6). J.V. was supported by the NSF (DEB1551488 and IOS-1603808). C.W. was supported by the South African National Research Foundatio