Mongabay Explores

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a trade ban on 201 salamander species in 2016 in order to prevent the import of the the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ('Bsal') which could be a major threat to the world's salamander hotspot of North America (and the U.S. in particular).

However, the recent discovery that frogs can also carry Bsal has led scientists to urge the American government to ban the import of all salamander and frog species to the country.

But what other policies or regulations could be enacted to prevent Bsal from wiping out this rich amphibian heritage?

In this 5th episode of Mongabay Explores' inaugural season, host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with Priya Nanjappa, former Program Manager for the Association of Fish and Wildlife agencies, and Tiffany Yap, a Staff Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, about animal trade policy, differences in the way the United States conducts this policy from other nations, and what the U.S. might do to more effectively combat the threat.

More resources on this topic:

• On the hunt for a silent salamander-killerScientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
• Mongabay's special series on 'Bsal' is here
• United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear Part 1 of this season, see, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" Parts 3 & 4 are also helpful in understanding the threats and opportunities presented by Bsal.

Based on a multi-year project Mongabay.com published about Bsal at the site (link above), episodes of this podcast season delve further to learn what's known about this issue, now.

If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe. Be sure to check out our sister podcast, the Mongabay Newscast, via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

North America (and the US in particular) is the world's hotspot of salamander diversity, hosting about 1/3 of all species. Researchers think that about half of these may be susceptible to a deadly fungus called Bsal, and believe it's a matter of time before it gets to North America. If and when it does, it could mean devastation and maybe extinction for a massive amount of amphibians.

To head off the threat, scientists created the Bsal Task Force in 2015 and in this fourth episode of Mongabay Explores, host Mike DiGirolamo interviews the group's Dr. Jake Kerby who is also the associate chair of biology at the University of South Dakota.

Dr. Kerby details the working relationships their 'Bsal battalion' has with federal entities in Canada, the US, and Mexico and how they are working together to manage and mitigate the damage of this potential pandemic.

He also discusses what citizens can do to help protect North America's amazingly diverse salamander species.

More resources on this topic:

• On the hunt for a silent salamander-killerScientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
• Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
• Mongabay's special series on 'Bsal' is here
• United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear Part 1 of this season, see, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" Part 3 details the search and testing effort "Will U.S. scientists find a silent salamander killer in time?"

Based on a special series Mongabay.com published to its website in 2018-19, the next couple episodes of this podcast season made possible in part by our Patreon supporters will delve further into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.

If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe. Be sure to check out our sister podcast, the Mongabay Newscast, via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Reporter Benji Jones and wildlife disease ecologist with U.S. Geological Survey, Daniel Grear, join this third episode to discuss the hunt for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) in North America, which Benji has described as "searching for a needle in a haystack except the needle is invisible and the hay stretches for thousands of miles."

Host, Mike DiGirolamo, talks with Jones and Grear about the search, the difficulty in finding it, and what we can expect if the disease ever makes its way to U.S. shores.

For the next several episodes, this season of Mongabay Explores (made possible by our Patreon supporters) will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.

More resources on this topic:

• On the hunt for a silent salamander-killerScientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
• Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
• Mongabay's whole series on 'Bsal' is here
• United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear Part 1 of this season, see, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe. Be sure to check out our sister podcast, the Mongabay Newscast, via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

How big a role do these ubiquitous animals play in the environment, and what would it mean to forest biodiversity, climate change, and forest food chains to lose whole populations of salamanders?

This second episode of Mongabay Explores' first season tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website in 2019.

For the next several episodes, this season of the podcast (made possible by our Patreon supporters) will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.

More resources on this topic:

• On the hunt for a silent salamander-killerScientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
• Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as "super-spreaders" of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
• Mongabay's whole series on 'Bsal' is here
• United States Bsal Task Force website

Listen to part 1 of this season here: "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe. Be sure to check out our sister podcast, the Mongabay Newscast via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you get your podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

You may not have heard about 'Bsal' before, but it nearly wiped out a population of salamanders in Europe, and scientists worry it could invade the United States--the home of the world's greatest diversity of salamanders--next.

Is the U.S. ready for Bsal, and can a pandemic in this global salamander hotspot be prevented, unlike the one that's currently crippling human societies globally? What's being done, and what would it mean to lose salamanders on a landscape-wide level in North America?

This inaugural season of Mongabay Explores, originally published in 2020 just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, tackles these important questions.

Made possible by our Patreon supporters, this six-part season will dive into a reporting project our writers and editors produced on the topic to learn what's known about this issue now.

More reading from Mongabay on this topic:

• On the hunt for a silent salamander-killerScientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
• Mongabay's whole series on Bsal is here
• United States Bsal Task Force website

If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe. Also please subscribe to our sister show the Mongabay Newscast via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay Explores is a podcast series diving deep into the world's unique places and species – from areas of amazing natural heritage to environmental challenges and conservation solutions.

We've explored the science behind the curiously large diversity of North American Salamanders, to the unique beauty, culture, and conservation challenges of Sumatra.

If you want to hear more inspiring conversations with experts, scientists, authors, and activists, or you just want to learn more about our planet, search for Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts.