Experimental Research to Obtain a Better Understanding of the Pathogenesis of Chytridiomycosis, and the Susceptibility and Resistance of Key Amphibian Species to Chytridiomycosis in Australia

The call for tenders RFT43/2004 designated 6 objectives to be addressed. In the proposal we submitted in response to RFT43/2004, we described 9 projects, each of which addressed some or all of these objectives. All of the projects were designed to share some resources with the projects we designed in our response to RFT 42/2004, and some were partially or wholly subsumed within the work to be carried out in that submission. Similarly, some of the 9 projects outlined in our proposal for RFT43/2004 addressed data needed in our response to RFT 42/2004. Both reports therefore refer to each other where appropriate. The tenders were called in 2004 and projects were initially designed to be completed within three years. Some projects were delayed by the need to recruit qualified staff and students, and funds were not expended as fast as initially anticipated, so the projects were extended for a fourth year. All are now complete, although some data collected remain to be written up. RFT 43/2004 identified six major objectives. Objectives 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are highly interrelated and were addressed by a series of linked projects. Objective 3 was addressed by a more clearly separate project. We will present Objectives 1, 2 ,4 5, and 6, and then summarise the findings dealing with those. We will then present Objective 3 and a summary.

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