Chapter 5 Threats
characteristics because of exposure to EDCs and hormone-mimicking chemicals found in wastewaters discharged into surface waters.
In North Carolina, certain diseases and conditions are reportable to the Department of Health and Human Services, including diseases that affect wildlife or those for which wildlife can be a vector for human infection. A list of reportable diseases and information on each is available at https://epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/cd/lhds/manuals/cd/reportable_diseases.html. Additional information on wildlife diseases is available from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), which conducts research and publishes information about a number of wildlife disease issues. A field manual of wildlife diseases is available to download from the NWHC website https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/tm15. The Wildlife Disease Association (https://wildlifedisease.org/?) is a membership organization that acquires, disseminates, and applies knowledge of the health and disease of wild animals in relation to their biology, conservation, and ecology, including interactions with humans and domestic animals. 5.13.1 Amphibians - Anticipated Impacts Worldwide amphibian population declines have been attributed to numerous causes, primarily anthropogenic, but an increasing threat with significant impacts comes from Chytridiomycota fungus (e.g., chytrid) and Iridoviridae pathogens (e.g., ranaviruses) (Harp and Petranka 2006) . Fungal diseases have been linked to the global declines and extinctions in amphibian populations because they often interfere with the animal’s ability to regulate body fluids and osmotic pressure, which eventually leads to death (Briggs et al. 2010; Rollins-Smith et al. 2011; McCallum 2012) . Stressors such as pollution, habitat changes, and climate change can increase the likelihood of a population being severely impacted by these pathogens. While treatment of individual populations is difficult, protocols are being investigated through various scientific research programs (Rollins-Smith et al. 2011) . Current measures to prevent extinction and preserve genetic diversity primarily involve captive breeding of healthy animals for reintroduction to areas where the fungus is not present and protection of populations unaffected by disease through conservation actions. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is an infectious fungus that can be introduced to water and soils by infected animals and has been found to affect numerous amphibian species, especially Anurans, including species found in North Carolina (Parris and Beaudoin 2004) . This fungus is known to kill from 50% to 80% of the individuals in infected populations, and surviving animals or other host animals can maintain the infection in the population (Gagliardo et al. 2008; Cheng et al. 2011; Blaustein et al. 2012; McMahon et al. 2012; Phillips and Puschendorf 2013; Louca et al. 2014) . Some amphibian species are protected from infection by their skin mucus excretions, but exposure to pesticides can alter immune defense and lead to susceptibility to parasites and pathogens (Lannoo 2009; Rohr et al. 2008; Rollins-Smith et al. 2011) .
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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