Karen Lips

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Karen Lips
Karen R. Lips visits the United States Embassy in Argentina.jpg
Alma mater University of South Florida, BS, 1988
University of Miami, PhD, 1995
Known forContributing to the identification of chytridiomycosis and advocacy efforts in environmental conservation
Scientific career
Fields Ecology, Herpetology, Conservation
Institutions St. Lawrence University
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
University of Maryland, College Park
Thesis The population biology of Hyla calypsa, a stream-breeding treefrog from lower Central America  (1995)
Doctoral advisor Jay M. Savage
Website Research website

Karen R. Lips is a Professor of Biology at University of Maryland, College Park. Lips' work in the 1990s eventually contributed to the identification of the chytrid fungus as the primary cause of frog decline worldwide.

Contents

Education and early career

Lips received her Bachelor of Science in zoology from University of South Florida in 1988. She then spent a year researching at the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica through their program Tropical Biology: An Ecological Approach. In 1995, she received her PhD in Biology at University of Miami in the research group of herpetologist Jay M. Savage. [1] Her doctoral research centered on studying the population ecology of Isthmohyla calypsa—a tree frog found only in the Talamancan mountains—in the Reserva Protectora Las Tablas in Costa Rica. She moved to the region in 1991 and by 1993 observed that the population of these frogs had declined dramatically. She documented their population dynamics and breeding patterns in her dissertation, The population biology of Hyla calypsa, a stream-breeding treefrog from lower Central America. [2] During her graduate work, she also documented the disappearance of the toad Incilius fastidiosus , on the heals of the mysterious extinction of the golden toad. [3] While she initially did not have an explanation for the disappearances she'd observed, her graduate work—combined with the observations of a number of amphibian ecologists—eventually contributed to the identification of chytridiomycosis, an infectious disease that has wiped out amphibian populations around the world. [4] [5]

Research

Lips research primarily centers on understanding the ecological and environmental factors that influence how amphibian species respond to diseases in order to devise evidence-based strategies for conservation and recovery of endangered species. She and her collaborators also work to determine how human activities can contribute to the spread of diseases and the ultimate loss of biodiversity. [6]

Following her PhD, Lips became an Assistant Professor at St. Lawrence University between 1995 and 1998. In that position, she returned to Costa Rica in 1996 and observed the overall abundance of frogs in the region was down 90%. [3] Her observations echoed those documented at a number of other ecological sites where amphibians were mysteriously dying off over the previous 15 years. [4] While some of the population decline could be attributed to habitat destruction, the areas Lips was researching were untouched and relatively unexplored environments. She moved her field research site to Fortuna, Costa Rica where she and her colleagues, including Rick Speare, found dead and dying frogs. They collected 50 dead frogs to send back to a veterinary pathologist in Maryland, who discovered that a protozoan of some sort had infiltrated their skin. With a team of collaborators, the protozoan was eventually identified as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , or Bd, which belongs to a phylum of fungus called chytrids. [7] [8] Amphibians drink and breathe by absorbing water and oxygen through their skin, but chytrids grow all over their bodies and interfere with their blood chemistry, leading to organ failure and eventual death. Since Bd was identified, it's been implicated in the collapse or extinction of over 200 amphibian species. [8]

Between 1998 and 2008, Lips was an Assistant, and later Associate, Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In 2004, her graduate students observed and began documenting a new chytrid outbreak in El Copé, Panama. [9] In the wake of the outbreak, Lips and her colleagues in ecology and environmental conservation began evaluating the threat of such epidemics on biodiversity and discussing policy interventions. [10]

Starting in 2008, Lips became a Professor at University of Maryland, College Park, where she currently serves as the Director of the Graduate Program in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology. She also holds a Research Associate appointment at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and at the U.S. Museum of Natural History. In this position, she has studied the amphibian declines in several more regions, including those documented over the last 50 years in the Appalachian Mountains in collaboration with her colleague Dick Highton. [11] Her research group and collaborators have also observed and documented the spread of chytrids to salamander populations, which are infected by a species related to Bd known as Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, or Bsal. [12] The exotic pet trade has been implicated in the spread of Bsal, and Lips and her colleagues successfully advocated for banning salamander import into the United States. [13] [14]

Advocacy and public engagement

Between 2016 and 2017, Lips served in the United States Department of State as a Jefferson Science Fellow in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. [6] There, her portfolio centered on issues related to environmental science, climate change, implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, STEM education, and increasing representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. She also traveled to posts across Latin America and the Caribbean to meet with decision makers, leaders in science, and educators to discuss science and education.

Lips has also engaged in science communication. She wrote about her early experiences in amphibian conservation as part of a special PLOS Biology collection “Conservation Stories from the Front Lines," which was curated in part by Liz Neeley, the Executive Director of the science-inspired storytelling nonprofit The Story Collider. [15] [3] [16] She published a similar account for Scientific American, advocating as well for the importance of science communication to raise awareness around issues of conservation. [17] She has also used her writing as a platform for advocacy, for instance, co-authoring a 2015 op-ed in The New York Times warning against the import of Asian salamanders through the pet trade to stop the spread of Bd to American salamanders. [18] The advocacy efforts of her and her colleagues led the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the import of 201 salamander species under the authority of the Lacey Act, which went into effect January 2016. [19] [20]

Her general publications about frogs inspired a German documentary film company, mobyDOK, to collaborate with her on a 16-minute animated film titled "The Waiting" [21] about the extinction of frog species due to the still unstoppable spread of the Chytrid fungus. The film was shown in competition in the short film programme at the 2023 Berlinale. [22]

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chytridiomycota</span> Division of fungi

Chytridiomycota are a division of zoosporic organisms in the kingdom Fungi, informally known as chytrids. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek χυτρίδιον, meaning "little pot", describing the structure containing unreleased zoospores. Chytrids are one of the earliest diverging fungal lineages, and their membership in kingdom Fungi is demonstrated with chitin cell walls, a posterior whiplash flagellum, absorptive nutrition, use of glycogen as an energy storage compound, and synthesis of lysine by the α-amino adipic acid (AAA) pathway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decline in amphibian populations</span> Ongoing mass extinction of amphibian species worldwide

Since the 1980s, decreases in amphibian populations, including population decline and localized mass extinctions, have been observed in locations all over the world. These declines are known as one of the most critical threats to global biodiversity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chytridiomycosis</span> Amphibian disease

Chytridiomycosis is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extinctions of amphibian species in western North America, Central America, South America, eastern Australia, east Africa (Tanzania), and Dominica and Montserrat in the Caribbean. Much of the New World is also at risk of the disease arriving within the coming years. The fungus is capable of causing sporadic deaths in some amphibian populations and 100% mortality in others. No effective measure is known for control of the disease in wild populations. Various clinical signs are seen by individuals affected by the disease. A number of options are possible for controlling this disease-causing fungus, though none has proved to be feasible on a large scale. The disease has been proposed as a contributing factor to a global decline in amphibian populations that apparently has affected about 30% of the amphibian species of the world. Some research found evidence insufficient for linking chytrid fungi and chytridiomycosis to global amphibian declines, but more recent research establishes a connection and attributes the spread of the disease to its transmission through international trade routes into native ecosystems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain yellow-legged frog</span> Species of amphibian

The mountain yellow-legged frog, also known as the southern mountain yellow-legged frog, is a species of true frog endemic to California in the United States. It occurs in the San Jacinto Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, and San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California and the Southern Sierra Nevada. It is a federally listed endangered species, separated into two distinct population segments (DPS): a northern DPS, listed endangered in 2014, and a southern DPS that was listed endangered in 2002.

<i>Atelopus</i> Genus of amphibians

Atelopus is a large genus of Bufonidae, commonly known as harlequin frogs or toads, from Central and South America, ranging as far north as Costa Rica and as far south as Bolivia. Atelopus species are small, generally brightly colored, and diurnal. Most species are associated with mid-to-high elevation streams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal testing on frogs</span> Overview article

Frogs have been used in animal tests throughout the history of biomedical science.

<i>Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis</i> Species of fungus

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as Bd or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese giant salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The Chinese giant salamander is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world. It is fully aquatic, and is endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of central China. Either it or a close relative has been introduced to Kyoto Prefecture in Japan and to Taiwan. It is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred, although many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild. It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panamanian golden frog</span> Species of amphibian

The Panamanian golden frog, also known as Cerro Campana stubfoot toad and other names, is a species of toad endemic to Panama. Panamanian golden frogs inhabit the streams along the mountainous slopes of the Cordilleran cloud forests of west-central Panama. While the IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered, it may in fact have been extinct in the wild since 2007. Individuals have been collected for breeding in captivity in a bid to preserve the species. The alternative common name, Zetek's golden frog, and the epithet zeteki both commemorate the entomologist James Zetek.

<i>Atelopus varius</i> Species of amphibian

Atelopus varius, the Costa Rican variable harlequin toad or clown frog, is a small Neotropical true toad from the family Bufonidae. Once ranging from Costa Rica to Panama, A. varius is now listed as critically endangered and has been reduced to a single remnant population near Quepos, Costa Rica and has only relict populations in western Panama (IUCN). Recent variation in air temperature, precipitation, stream flow patterns, and the subsequent spread of a pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) linked to global climate change have been the leading cause of decline for A. varius. A. zeteki has been considered a subspecies of A. varius, but is now generally considered a separate species.

A panzootic is an epizootic that spreads across a large region, or even worldwide. The equivalent in human populations is called a pandemic.

<i>Atelopus limosus</i> Species of amphibian

Atelopus limosus, the limosa harlequin frog is an endangered species of toad in the family Bufonidae endemic to Panama. Its natural habitats are stream banks in tropical moist lowland forests and rivers of the Chagres watershed in central Panama.

<i>Agalychnis lemur</i> Species of amphibian

Agalychnis lemur, the lemur leaf frog or lemur frog, is a species of frog in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, and adjacent northwestern Colombia. It is classed as Critically Endangered and threatened by the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green-eyed treefrog</span> Species of amphibian

The green-eyed treefrog is a species of Australasian treefrog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae that occurs in the Wet Tropics of Australia.

Parvimolge is a genus of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae, the lungless salamanders. It is currently considered as monotypic, although this may yet change as molecular data suggest that it is embedded within a paraphyletic Pseudoeurycea. Parvimolge townsendi is endemic to the northern Sierra Madre de Oaxaca in central and southern Veracruz, Mexico, between 900 and 1900 meters elevation. It is represented by the species Parvimolge townsendi, commonly known as Townsend's dwarf salamander.

<i>Janthinobacterium lividum</i> Species of bacterium

Janthinobacterium lividum is an aerobic, Gram-negative, soil-dwelling bacterium that has a distinctive dark-violet color, due to a compound called violacein, which is produced when glycerol is metabolized as a carbon source. Violacein has antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Its antifungal properties are of particular interest, since J. lividum is found on the skin of certain amphibians, including the red-backed salamander, where it prevents infection by the devastating chytrid fungus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden toad</span> Extinct species of toad that was endemic to Costa Rica

The golden toad is an extinct species of true toad that was once abundant in a small, high-altitude region of about 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi) in an area north of the city of Monteverde, Costa Rica. It was endemic to elfin cloud forest. Also called the Monte Verde toad, Alajuela toad and orange toad, it is commonly considered the "poster child" for the amphibian decline crisis. This toad was first described in 1966 by herpetologist Jay Savage. The last sighting of a single male golden toad was on 15 May 1989, and it has since been classified as extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

<i>Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans</i> Species of pathogenic chytrid fungus that infects amphibian species

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a pathogenic chytrid fungus that infects amphibian species. Although salamanders and newts seem to be the most susceptible, some anuran species are also affected. Bsal has emerged recently and poses a major threat to species in Europe and North America.

Lee Berger, is an Australian biologist and veterinarian, who discovered during her PhD that the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was responsible for the decline and extinction of hundreds of amphibian species.

Yolarnie Amepou is a zoologist and conservationist from Papua New Guinea. She is known for her work to protect the Papuan softshell turtle in Kikori. In 2017 she was a Youth Champion for the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. She was also received a Pride of Papua New Guinea Award for Environment in 2015.

References

  1. ↑ "Karen Lips | Amphibians.org". Amphibian Survival Alliance. February 26, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ Lips, Karen (January 1, 1995). "The population biology of Hyla calypsa, a stream-breeding treefrog from lower Central America". Dissertations from ProQuest.
  3. 1 2 3 Lips, Karen R. (February 6, 2018). "Witnessing extinction in real time". PLOS Biology. 16 (2): e2003080. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2003080. ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   5800534 . PMID   29408868.
  4. 1 2 Blakeslee, Sandra (September 16, 1997). "New Culprit in Deaths of Frogs". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  5. ↑ Lips, Karen R. (December 5, 2016). "Overview of chytrid emergence and impacts on amphibians". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 371 (1709): 20150465. doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0465. ISSN   0962-8436. PMC   5095542 . PMID   28080989.
  6. 1 2 3 "Lips Bio". sites.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  7. ↑ Parkes, Helen; Marantelli, Gerry; Lips, Karen R.; Hines, Harry B.; McDonald, Keith R.; Hyatt, Alex D.; Ragan, Mark A.; Slocombe, Ron; Goggin, C. Louise (July 21, 1998). "Chytridiomycosis causes amphibian mortality associated with population declines in the rain forests of Australia and Central America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 95 (15): 9031–9036. Bibcode:1998PNAS...95.9031B. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.15.9031 . ISSN   1091-6490. PMC   21197 . PMID   9671799.
  8. 1 2 Wade, Lizzie (July 30, 2015). "What It's Like to Watch a Species Go Extinct". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  9. ↑ Collins, James P.; Pessier, Allan P.; Livo, Lauren; Carey, Cynthia; Voyles, Jamie; Alford, Ross A.; Reeve, John D.; Brenes, Roberto; Brem, Forrest (February 28, 2006). "Emerging infectious disease and the loss of biodiversity in a Neotropical amphibian community". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (9): 3165–3170. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.3165L. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0506889103 . ISSN   1091-6490. PMC   1413869 . PMID   16481617.
  10. ↑ Brodie, Edmund D.; Wake, David B.; Crump, Martha L.; Griffiths, Richard A.; Dobson, Andy; Blaustein, Andrew R.; Lannoo, Michael J.; Boone, Michelle; Pethiyagoda, Rohan (July 7, 2006). "Confronting Amphibian Declines and Extinctions" (PDF). Science. 313 (5783): 48. doi:10.1126/science.1128396. ISSN   1095-9203. PMID   16825553. S2CID   82731991.
  11. ↑ "Scientists Say Amphibian Die-Offs Hit Area Years Ago". WAMU. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  12. ↑ Pasmans, F.; Bossuyt, F.; Bocxlaer, I. Van; Kolby, J. E.; Nguyen, T. T.; Nishikawa, K.; Ducatelle, R.; Salvidio, S.; Sluijs, A. Spitzen-van der (October 31, 2014). "Recent introduction of a chytrid fungus endangers Western Palearctic salamanders". Science. 346 (6209): 630–631. Bibcode:2014Sci...346..630M. doi:10.1126/science.1258268. ISSN   1095-9203. PMC   5769814 . PMID   25359973.
  13. ↑ Achenbach, Joel (May 10, 2018). "Exotic pet trade linked to invasive fungus that's killing frogs globally". The Washington Post.
  14. ↑ Revkin, Andrew C. (March 21, 2015). "Riled Herpetologists Press Obama Administration to Protect America's Salamanders from a Fungal Threat". Dot Earth Blog. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  15. ↑ Neeley, Liz; Moore, Jonathan W.; Hettinger, Annaliese; Gross, Liza (February 5, 2018). "Conservation stories from the front lines". PLOS Biology. 16 (2): e2005226. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2005226. ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   5798755 . PMID   29401208.
  16. ↑ Yeo, Sophie (June 5, 2018). "When Scientists Become Storytellers". Pacific Standard. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  17. ↑ Lips, Karen. "What If There Is No Happy Ending? Science Communication as a Path to Change". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  18. ↑ Lips, Karen R.; III, Joseph R. Mendelson (November 14, 2014). "Opinion | Stopping the Next Amphibian Apocalypse". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  19. ↑ Resnick, Brian (December 10, 2015). "The US just banned salamander imports, hoping to stave off disaster". Vox. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Injurious Wildlife: Listing Salamanders as Injurious Due to Risk of Salamander Chytrid Fungus". www.fws.gov. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  21. ↑ "The Waiting". IMDb com. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  22. ↑ "The Waiting". berlinale.de. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Fellows Directory | Page 6 | Leopold Leadership Program". leopoldleadership.stanford.edu. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  24. ↑ "2016–2017 Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellows: Climate Change". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
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