Graduate student Jackie Tran, leading a team at Brandon University, is collecting samples from wetlands across southern Manitoba to find out whether the deadly chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) has reached the province’s amphibians for the first time.

The fungus causes chytridiomycosis, a disease some scientists call an “epidermal epidemic.” It has been directly responsible for the extinction of at least 90 amphibian species and for steep declines in more than 500 others worldwide.

So far the pathogen has not been confirmed in Manitoba, but it has been detected in nearby areas – Ontario, the Northwest Territories, North Dakota, Minnesota and Saskatchewan – and it has been linked to historic drops in the province’s northern leopard frog populations.

Tran’s researchers are swabbing frogs and salamanders and using geographic modelling to pinpoint wetland habitats where the fungus could survive. The goal is to launch a proactive monitoring programme that can catch an outbreak early.

Healthy wetlands support fish, insects, plants and people. Finding the fungus early could therefore protect wildlife and reduce possible risks to human health.

Associate professor Pamela Rutherford, who supervises the project, says that early detection “can help limit some of these declines” and gives a clearer picture of overall wetland condition.

Because amphibians are key indicators of ecosystem health, spotting chytrid in Manitoba wetlands matters not only for the frogs and salamanders themselves, but for the whole web of life that depends on healthy wetlands.