A tale of two lineages: unexpected, long‐term persistence of the amphibian‐killing fungus in B razil

For the past 17 years, scientists have been compiling a list of amphibian species susceptible to infection by the amphibian‐killing chytrid fungus, B atrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ), all over the world, with >500 species infected on every continent except Antarctica (Olson et al . [Olson DH, 2013]). Where Bd has been found, the impacts on amphibians has been one of two types: either Bd arrives into a naïve amphibian population followed by a mass die‐off and population declines (e.g. Lips et al . [Lips KR, 2006]), or Bd is present at some moderate prevalence, usually infecting many species but at apparently nonlethal intensities for a long time. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Rodriguez et al . ([Rodriguez D, 2014]) discover that the Atlantic Coastal Forest of Brazil is home to two Bd lineages: the Global Pandemic Lineage ( Bd ‐ GPL ) – the strain responsible for mass die‐offs and population declines – and a lineage endemic to B razil ( B d ‐ B z). Even more surprising was that both lineages have been present in this area for the past 100 years, making these the oldest records of B d infecting amphibians. The team also described a moderate but steady prevalence of ~20% across all sampled anuran families for over 100 years, indicating that Brazil has been in an enzootic disease state for over a century. Most amphibians were infected with B d ‐ GPL , suggesting this lineage may be a better competitor than B d ‐ B z or may be replacing the B d ‐ B z lineage. Rodriguez et al . ([Rodriguez D, 2014]) also detected likely hybridization of the two B d lineages, as originally described by Schloegel et al . ([Schloegel LM, 2012]).