Why some frogs can survive killer fungal disease 为什么一些青蛙能够从致命的真菌病中死里逃生？

Anna Savage hikes through a Florida swamp looking for frogs. She spots a shiny black critter hopping in the swamp grass. It’s a tiny cricket frog, no bigger than a bug. She’s hunting a killer infection — and the few frogs able to survive it.

Anna Savage徒步穿过佛罗里达州沼泽寻找青蛙。她发现一直黑瘦的生物在沼泽草丛中跳跃。它是一直瘦小如蟋蟀的青蛙，和虫子大小差不多。她在寻找致命感染——而且很少有青蛙能死里逃生。

Learning what makes these frogs special could hold a key to managing the fungal scourge.

了解这些青蛙特殊之处的原因市控制真菌根源的关键。

Savage is a frog biologist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She catches amphibians like this tiny cricket frog to sample their skin cells. She wants to know which ones host a killer fungus. Huge numbers of frogs have been dying from a skin disease that it causes. But the fungus doesn’t kill off every infected frog. Savage is trying to figure out why. She thinks it might have something to do with the animals’ genes.

Savage是奥兰多的中佛罗里达大学的青蛙生物学家。她抓住了瘦小如蟋蟀的青蛙这种两栖动物，采取了它们的皮肤细胞标本。她想知道是什么抑制了致命真菌。大量青蛙已经死于这一真菌引发的皮肤疾病。但是真菌并未导致所有受感染的青蛙死亡。Savage试图弄清楚原因。她认为这可能与动物基因有关。

Amphibians include frogs, toads, salamanders and newts. And overall, notes Savage, “Amphibians are in trouble.” A recent study showed that populations have been shrinking for more than four in every 10 of the world’s amphibian species. Nearly one-third are threatened with extinction. And that could be bad for the environment. These animals are an important part of the food chain. They eat pesky insects, like flies and mosquitoes. Amphibians, in turn, are an important food source for many birds, reptiles and mammals.

两栖动物包括青蛙、蟾蜍、蜥蜴和蝾螈。总而言之，Savage说“两栖动物正处于危险之中。”最近的研究表明世界上的两栖动物的数量已经减少了十分之四多。而且这不利于环境。这些动物是食物链上的重要组成部分。它们吃害虫，例如蚊子和苍蝇。反过来，两栖动物也是许多鸟类、爬行动物和哺乳动物的一种重要食物。

Global loss of wetlands and other critical amphibian habitat may be causing some populations to shrink. A frog disease is causing major declines too. Its source is a single-celled fungus known as chytrid (KIH-trid). Fungal diseases are known as mycoses (My-KO-sees). So this one is called chytridiomycosis (Kih-TRID-ee-oh-my-KO-sis).

全球范围内湿地以及其他重要的两栖动物栖息地的流失可能会导致两栖动物数量锐减。青蛙疾病也导致青蛙数量骤降。这一疾病的来源市一种单细胞真菌，名叫chytrid (KIH-trid)。真菌疾病被称为mycoses (My-KO-sees)。所以这一疾病被称为chytridiomycosis (Kih-TRID-ee-oh-my-KO-sis)。