Farnsworth carefully checks for signs of life at a pond where all the animals died last year.
A device records water temperature in the pond every hour so scientists can correlate the temperature to evidence of the virus. Nearby, Farnsworth finds salamanders developing their legs.
For now, they look fine, but in a few weeks the virus could show up again. Scientists don’t know much about ranavirus, or how to eliminate it. “If this continues the way we’ve seen it, this could be devastating to several species,” Farnsworth noted.
When a group of animals dies in large numbers, the animals that feed on them also decline. And the species that were food for them - such as mosquitoes and insects - flourish.
Ranavirus spreading
"Ranavirus infection in wild and captive amphibians is a very serious disease," said David Green is an animal disease specialist at the National Wildlife Health Center of the U.S. Geological Survey. "When the infection shows up in a wetland, we expect nearly 100 percent of the animals to be killed in that wetland."
Green says scientists have reported ranavirus in 25 US states and in several other countries. He predicts it will take years before scientists are able to control it.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25