SDM results produced with MAXENT.

Amphibians globally suffer from emerging infectious diseases like chytridiomycosis caused by the continuously spreading chytrid fungi. One is Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) and its disease ‒ the ‘salamander plague’ ‒ which is lethal to several caudate taxa. Recently introduced into Western Europe, long distance dispersal of Bsal, likely through human mediation, has been reported. Herein we study if Alpine salamanders (Salamandra atra and S. lanzai) are yet affected by the salamander plague in the wild. Members of the genus Salamandra are highly susceptible to Bsal leading to the lethal disease. Moreover, ecological modelling has shown that the Alps and Dinarides, where Alpine salamanders occur, are generally suitable for Bsal. We analysed skin swabs of 818 individuals of Alpine salamanders and syntopic amphibians at 40 sites between 2017 to 2022. Further, we compiled those with published data from 319 individuals from 13 sites concluding that Bsal infections were not detected. Our results suggest that the salamander plague so far is absent from the geographic ranges of Alpine salamanders. That means that there is still a chance to timely implement surveillance strategies. Among others, we recommend prevention measures, citizen science approaches, and ex situ conservation breeding of endemic salamandrid lineages.全球两栖动物正遭受新兴传染病的威胁，其中包括由持续扩散的壶菌（chytrid fungi）引发的壶菌病（chytridiomycosis）。一类致病原是蝾螈壶菌（Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, 缩写Bsal）及其引发的“蝾螈瘟疫”，该病害对多种有尾类群具有致死性。Bsal近期才传入西欧，已有研究报道其可能通过人类活动介导实现长距离扩散。本研究旨在探究野生环境下的阿尔卑斯蝾螈（Salamandra atra和S. lanzai）是否已受到“蝾螈瘟疫”的侵染。蝾螈属（Salamandra）物种对Bsal具有高度易感性，极易感染该致死性病害。此外，生态建模研究表明，阿尔卑斯山与狄那里克阿尔卑斯山区——阿尔卑斯蝾螈的栖息地——整体上适宜Bsal生存。我们于2017年至2022年间，在40个采样点采集了818只阿尔卑斯蝾螈及其同域两栖动物的皮肤拭子样本。此外，我们整合了来自13个采样点、共319只个体的已发表数据，最终分析结果显示未检测到Bsal感染。我们的研究结果表明，截至目前，“蝾螈瘟疫”尚未出现在阿尔卑斯蝾螈的地理分布范围内。这意味着我们仍有机会及时实施监测防控策略。据此，我们建议采取预防措施、推广公民科学项目，并对特有蝾螈类群开展迁地保护繁育工作。