Conservation genomics of the highly endangered Mountain Chicken Frog

Project Summary: The mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) nearly went extinct following the catastrophic introduction of chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatis) to Dominica in 2002 and its subsequent spread to Montserrat, the two Lesser Antilles islands where this species was found. Today some mountain chicken frogs (MFC) survive in Dominica, but their population size has not been restored to the pre-bottleneck sizes. Regretfully, the population in Montserrat may have gone extinct, except for a bio-secure population that was established with animals from the island collected before the wave front of expansion of chytrid fungus in Montserrat. Previous work by the supervisors' team in collaboration with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust studied aspects of the demographic history of MCF and factors underpinning the survival of the Dominican population despite of the established presence of chytrid fungus. In this project using a combination of genomic tools and simulation approaches we will characterise signatures of selection across the MCF genome indicative of adaptive responses to chytrid fungus, as well as will characterise in detail the species demographic history to understand the extant patterns of genetic variation and the impact that the disease outbreak had on the species genetic variation.