Amphibians are among the most threatened taxa with approximately 43% of its species being threatened with extinction (Li et al. 2021; Kriger et al. 2007). Two main drivers of amphibian population declines are habitat loss from anthropogenic forces and disease, however; the interaction between these two drivers remains under investigated in many crucial regions deemed as biodiversity hotspots that have also been exploited (Becker et al. 2011). Loss of biodiversity also has consequences on host susceptibility to disease and disease transmission (Searle et al. 2011). Chytridiomycosis is the amphibian diseased caused by Batrachohytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and has led to many amphibians’ population declines, predominantly in South America (Li et al. 2021). We investigated how different habitats, and community composition effected prevalence of Bd in the terrestrial frog Pristimantis achatinus (P. achatinus) in the Mache Chindul Reserve of northwest Ecuador. Prevalence of Bd was investigated following a standardized swabbing protocol (Hyatt et al. 2007) via 29 different sites, each site was composed of a paired pasture and forest transect separated by a hard forest edge. We observed no significant effect of habitat type or species richness on Bd prevalence. We also observed no effect of habitat type on species richness. Given their high abundance and equivalent rates of infection in all habitat types sampled, we suggest P. achatinus may serve as an important vector of Bd in our project area.
