Assessing risk and guidance on monitoring of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Europe through identification of taxonomic selectivity of infection.

Amphibians are globally threatened, but not all species are affected equally by different threatening processes. This is true for the threat posed by the chytridiomycete fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). We compiled a European data set for B. dendrobatidis to analyze the trends of infection in European amphibians. The risk of infection was not randomly distributed geographically or taxonomically across Europe. Within countries with different prevalence, infection was nonrandom in certain amphibian taxa. Brown frogs of the genus Rana were unlikely to be infected, whereas frogs in the families Alytidae and Bombinatoridae were significantly more likely to be infected than predicted by chance. Frogs in the 2 families susceptible to B. dendrobatidis should form the core of attempts to develop spatial surveillance studies of chytridiomycosis in Europe. Ideally, surveys for B. dendrobatidis should be augmented by sampling the widespread genus Pelophylax because this taxon exhibits geographically inconsistent overinfection with B. dendrobatidis and surveillance of it may facilitate recognition of factors causing spatial variability of infection intensity. Several European amphibian taxa were not represented in our data set; however, surveillance of unsampled species should also occur when warranted.

Protecting isolated reptile populations outside their main area of distribution: a predictive model of the Dice snake, Natrixtessellata, distribution in the Czech Republic.

Marginal populations of animals are highly susceptible to environmental pressures associated with climatic changes. Understanding their distribution and ecological requirements is, thus, essential for the development of efficient conservation strategies. The dice snake, Natrixtessellata, is listed as critically endangered in the Czech Republic. In certain regions (Bohemia and Silesia), its populations are located beyond the northern border of the continuous range of the species, while the south Moravian populations are connected to it. Based on the statewide database of the Czech Nature Conservation Agency, we created a predictive model and determined key factors influencing the species distribution. The most relevant factors were: watercourses and bodies, average annual temperatures, altitude, slope inclination and precipitation seasonality. The model fits the presence records well and is applicable in both theory and practice of the species conservation - for example, focusing faunistic research to certain areas, critical analysis of controversial presence reports and as an input for species management in the form of repatriation and introduction.