This image, created in 2019 by Ben Scheele as part of the first study to quantify the damages of the chytrid fungus, displays the shocking severity not of individual loss, but loss of species due to chytridiomycosis globally. Wendy Palen of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia reminds us that, “Chytrid fungus is the most destructive pathogen ever described by science; that’s a pretty shocking realization.” Below is another shocking image from this study. 

Here we are faced with the annual as well as the cumulative loss of amphibian species. Our attention is directed to 1998, the year in which chytridiomycosis was discovered, and the subsequent reduction in species loss. 

The final image from this study which I will present for your discussion is this wheel of species loss by genus. Even a brief glance at this visual carries the sobering weight of the immense loss of biodiversity which we have witnessed over the past 60 years. 

For more information on this study, see the citation below.

Scheele, Ben C., et al. “Amphibian Fungal Panzootic Causes Catastrophic and Ongoing Loss of Biodiversity.” Science, vol. 363, no. 6434, 2019, pp. 1459–1463., doi:10.1126/science.aav0379.