Whether it be frogs, Wolves, Pumas, Coyotes, Bears or Men, the more genetic diversity that exists within each of these populations, the better able the population is able to persist into the future, overcoming disease and other environmental obstacles............The more mobile individual members of each species is in terms of able to migrate distances to breed with different individuals from different geographic locales, the stronger the entire population becomes.............That is why wildlife corridors connecting large disparate protected lands are key to optimizing species

 Diversity breeds disease resistance in frogs

Species-rich amphibian communities better able to fend off parasitic infection
sciencenews

 Scien

In the frog pond, more species means better health for all. More diverse amphibian communities are less likely to transmit a virulent parasite that causes limb deformities in frogs, researchers report in the Feb. 14 Nature.

Pieter Johnson of the University of Colorado Boulder and colleagues used field data from hundreds of California ponds to show that susceptible species dominate in less diverse amphibian communities. In communities that are more diverse, more resistant species move in.

The work showed that it's not just the total diversity that matters — newcomers tend to be less susceptible to disease, helping the whole community cut the parasite's transmission. That finding may help explain why many wildlife communities with greater biodiversity are better at controlling infectious disease. As a result, preserving biodiversity could serve as a tool to help manage the spread of disease, the researchers conclude.Communities with high species diversity had nearly 80 percent less transmission of the trematode parasite Ribeiroia ondatrae, and suffered roughly half as much disease as communities with low diversity. And in lab and experimental pond studies, transmission and disease rates decreased after researchers added more species.

Still, that recommendation may not always hold. In those wildlife communities where newcomer species may be more susceptible, greater biodiversity could actually boost disease transmission