Treating Chytrid in Montserrat 30/08/09

Days are passing quickly here in the Caribbean. As the hard but rewarding field work continues as we keep the project “alive and kicking”, collecting a large number of samples and lots of data. We are currently working at two study sites: we are continuing the pilot study into the effectiveness of anti-fungal baths as a treatment for chytrid fungus that was started in March at Pelican Ghaut, and we are conducting the full-scale trial at Fairy Walk. Each site is being visited three times per week. The situation differs markedly between the two sites: while we are only finding two or three frogs per night at Pelican, in Fairy Walk we have found more than 60 frogs on a single night. We are also finding small numbers of dead frogs at Fairy Walk, but this is to be expected.

Despite all the hard work, the island keeps captivating and delighting us with astonishing sunsets and awesome star-filled night skies.

Something that we have noticed after speaking to many local people regarding what we are doing here, is the high level of awareness about the situation with the mountain chickens that the Montserratian people have. The vast majority of them are very aware of the frogs critical status and many of them also know that Montserrat is the last place in the entire planet where these animals can be found in decent numbers, so when we talk with them, they are extremely interested, supportive and encouraging. They also understand that what we learn here while trying to help the mountain chickens could be applied in the future to other endangered amphibian species and other amphibian conservation projects. Because knowledge and understanding are crucial to generating support for conservation initiatives, taking the time to talk to the people of Montserrat about, and, whenever possible, involve them in, what we are doing is an important part of our work here.

Last week we had a little bit of time to visit the Montserrat Volcano Observatory and some of the partially buried houses located in one of the rivers of boulders and ash formed in 1997 when the volcano´s last major eruption occurred. Even from the observatory we were not able to see the entire volcano, since its summit is always hidden behind clouds and the smoke and fumes that it is still emitting. The last big pyroclastic flow happened only some months ago, on New Year’s Eve 2008, and the whole island was covered by a sheet of ash several centimetres thick. Seeing the results of the volcano’s activity first hand really left us in awe of the incredible power of nature.

This eruption in 1995 which was such a disaster for the island may in fact turn out to have a silver lining, at least as far as the mountain chickens are concerned. The eruption isolated a an area of rainforest in the south Soufriere Hills on the southern tip of the island. If conditions are suitable and chytrid fungus is not present in this area, it might be possible to introduce the species to it in the near future using the animals currently being bred in captivity at Durrell, ZSL and Parken Zoo. But of course, this is something that still has to be thoroughly evaluated, studied and planned before any action is taken.