Friends or Enemies?

Bullfrogs are a mainly dominant species of their environment.  Besides the occasional attack from a heron or snake, these frogs are the ones causing chaos.  Fish, like the Northern Pike rarely try to eat bullfrogs because their toxic skin tastes bad.  Usually the bullfrog interacts within its own species and other species of frogs, bullying each other for mates and territory. However, the other frogs try not to get in the way of each other due to the fact that they could get eaten by one of their own... yikes!

Image of American Bullfrog, credit to Phil Meyers


Only in the past decade or so, a chytrid fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has been seen to infect large populations of the Rana catesbeiana (bullfrog) and other species of amphibians.  The fungus resides in the epidermal layer of skin within the frogs, usually causing death.  The fungus is responsible for drastic population declines of amphibians during winter seasons.  As of 2004, it has been recorded that at least 9 species of Amphibian and possibly another 113 species are extinct due to this chytrid or habitat loss and pollution.  Below is a picture of the fungus on an arthropod (a.) and an algae (b.).

Image of fungus thanks to wikipedia.org (a= fungus on arthropod, b= fungus on algae)

 


Answer to joke on adaptation page:

He gets toad away!

 

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