Exploiting frog behaviour to fight the chytrid pandemic

My findings demonstrate that apparent treatment success may be temporary and highlight the importance of long-term monitoring when evaluating disease interventions. Second, I investigated a widely available veterinary disinfectant as a potential antifungal treatment. While this treatment was highly effective at clearing <i>Bd </i>infections, it was associated with substantial adverse effects, including physiological stress, skin damage, and mortality, particularly when frogs were treated in groups.

My results show that high antifungal efficacy can come at significant welfare costs, and that treatment delivery methods critically influence outcomes. Finally, I explored an alternative approach that is based on environmental modification rather than direct treatment. I deployed artificial solar-heated “hotspot” shelters across multiple Australian regions to assess the viability of shelters in different climates.

Although these shelters consistently altered local thermal conditions, their performance varied with regional climate, solar exposure, and placement. Rather than acting as a curative intervention, hotspot shelters may support host resilience by facilitating behavioural thermoregulation. Overall, I argue that chytridiomycosis management cannot rely on a single universal solution.

Interventions that rapidly reduce fungal burden may be short-lived or carry substantial welfare risks, whereas lower-intensity, behaviourally mediated approaches may offer more sustainable benefits under appropriate environmental conditions. This thesis emphasises the need to evaluate disease interventions based on long-term host outcomes rather than short-term pathogen suppression.</p>