2016 RAP Award
Virginia Tech – Ph.D. Candidate
Distribution and risk of chytrid fungus in amphibian communities
Candidate Zach Gajewski, a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech, was awarded the 2016 Research Assistantship Program grant to conduct his research on the distribution of the pathogenic chytrid fungus that affects frogs and other amphibians. This fungus is devastating frog populations around the world. Zach is looking at its distribution in the Gorge and across the East Coast, and how the microbial community on amphibian skin may potentially offer resistance to the fungal pathogen. Zach also will be mentoring WTP student William Cranier.