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Breakthroughs in Science

Biodiversity helps dilute infectious disease, reduce its severity

September 19th, 2011

David Stauth, Oregon State University News and Communication

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have shown for the first time that loss of biodiversity may be contributing to a fungal infection that is killing amphibians around the world – a finding that provides more evidence for why biodiversity is important to many ecosystems.

The research, being published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used laboratory studies of amphibians to show that increased species richness decreased both the prevalence and severity of infection caused by the deadly chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

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