One of my biggest ecological concerns is the Amphibian Chytrid epidemic that’s sweeping across the planet and eradicating entire species in as quickly as a few months. Over 130 frog species have already been wiped out in only the past few decades by Chytrid. Chytrid is a human spread fungus that spreads through water systems, can be transmitted between animals, and can survive in the substrate. Once it embeds in the skin of a susceptible amphibian, the skin thickens and the animal dies. As Chytrid sweeps through an area, it quickly kills mass numbers of amphibians who have no defense against the exotic pathogen. In Colorado, the Boreal Toad is a notable species affected by Chytrid. We don’t know how to stop Chytrid yet, and there are currently critically endangered species with too few individuals left to breed in the wild that will soon be extinct. Our only hopes are to concentrate on research, and to preserve captive breeding colonies of dwindling species in an Ark situation, which may be reintroduced after a solution has been found. To learn more about Chytrid, or to support finding a solution, please visit my friends at Amphibian Ark.