Frogs, fungus and forests: N.B. Museum researchers documenting diversity

A frog that's moving into New Brunswick from Maine and a fungus that's only known to exist in New Brunswick and the Smoky Mountains are two of the highlights of this year's summer field research by the New Brunswick Museum, on display Saturday in Musquash. 

"We're finding lots of frogs and salamanders. This weather has been been great for them," said Greg Jongsma, a frog biologist and the museum's assistant curator of zoology.

"There's a lot of movement out in the forest and wetlands," he said.

While early spring species like wood frogs and mole salamanders have dispersed across the forest, the summer cast of species has arrived on the scene, including bullfrogs and mink frogs.

Jongsma is one of about 60 researchers with a wide array of expertise who will have scoured parts of the Loch Alva Protected Natural area by July 11, said Don McAlpine, the museum's zoology curator and head of natural history. 

Loch Alva is the seventh protected natural area targeted for biota research, the study of plants and animals.

"We're doing our best to cover as much of the 22,000 hectares as we can," said McAlpine.

The landscape includes mixed forest with conifers and hardwoods and some large lakes. The southern boundary is just nine kilometres from the coast. It's not very mountainous, but high ground includes the popular hiking spot of Turtle Mountain.

Data is being collected for several different projects.

For one, they're swabbing frogs to check for chytrid fungus, an infection that's been affecting amphibians around the world. 

Its presence in New Brunswick was confirmed during field work several years ago in the Grand Lake Meadows and Fredericton areas, said Jongsma.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be hurting the local amphibian population, he said.

This year, researchers are collecting samples to collaborate with Karen Vanderwolf of the University of Waterloo. She'll be checking for bacteria that might offer protection from chytrid.

Many frogs can carry the fungus with no symptoms, said Jongsma.

"But when they do, it essentially causes a thickening of the skin and it disrupts their ability to exchange water and electrolytes," Jongsma explained.

Frog skin has to be functioning properly for a number of essential bodily functions, including breathing and drinking. 

"Really dramatic population declines and even extinctions" have been associated with chytrid in tropical and subtropical areas, he said.

"With climate change, who knows what's really going to happen and the response of amphibians to chytrid in a warming world?"

Amphibian researchers in New Brunswick are also collaborating with colleagues in New Mexico to answer other questions about frogs and climate change.

They're collecting gene samples that they hope will shed light on the adaptability of different species and their prospects for the future, said Jongsma.

New Brunswick is at the northeast frontier of habitat for many amphibians, he said.

The gene pool here is probably shallower compared to areas farther south, simply because there's been less time for adaptations since the glaciers retreated, he explained.

That could mean the local population is "not genomically prepared for climate change" and will perish. 

There's also "a real chance" that some southern species will move into the province, he said.

One sign that may be happening already is the spread of grey tree frogs into New Brunswick from Maine. The first documented sighting in Saint John County took place during this biota, said Jongsma.

Notwithstanding surprises like that one, we already have a "pretty good handle" on what types of frogs live in the province, he said.

Such is not the case for fungi or insects.

A significant portion of the things scientists in those fields are collecting are new provincial records, said Jongsma.

Another exciting find already this year is a fungus that grows on lichens. It's only been recorded three times in the world at three sites, said McAlpine.

The previous two sightings were at Fundy Park and in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

It's called lettauia santessonii, said lichen expert Kendra Driscoll, and looks like small, pale discs of grey on a whitish-green background.

"This is really fundamental work of just documenting the diversity," said Jongsma.

After 11 field seasons, more than 30,000 occurrences of life have been recorded representing about 3,700 species, said McAlpine. 

Close to 900 of those species had not been recorded in New Brunswick before. Some of them were new to science. 

For example, DNA sequencing work has shown than some species of mushroom, previously identified by European lookalike names, are actually something completely different, he said.

Biota research has been used for about 60 scientific papers.

"I think a lot of people think that, that that they need to go to the tropics to find new things, and we don't," said McAlpine. 

"We've had some pretty significant results."

Saturday's open house is scheduled for 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Musquash Volunteer Fire-Rescue Hall, 35 Malcolm Meehan Road in Musquash.

It will include some of the samples collected as well as artwork inspired by the Loch Alva protected natural area.