While the emerging amphibian disease chytridiomycosis is causing dramatic and ongoing biodiversity losses worldwide, sustainable strategies to mitigate this global threat to amphibians are currently missing. We here propose a conceptual framework for a novel biological mitigation strategy based on the increasing evidence that naturally-occurring micropredators, such as protists, rotifers and crustaceans, are capable of using zoospores of the chytrid pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) as a food source under controlled laboratory conditions. Pathogen predation may serve as a cost-efficient way to prevent chytridiomycosis outbreaks under natural conditions by reducing zoospore densities and thereby infection loads. This predator-pathogen relationship is not an isolated interaction, but is embedded in the aquatic food web structure that interacts with a wide range of environmental factors. Amphibian breeding ponds are increasingly associated to agricultural landscapes due to ongoing land use occupancy for food production, exposing these water bodies to a variety of environmental stressors such as agrochemical pollution, nutrient enrichment and cattle trampling. Environmental stressors may affect the composition and abundance of aquatic communities, while they can also exert sublethal effects that may reduce the zoospore removal efficiency of micropredators. By carefully controlling environmental stressors, trophic interactions may be steered to optimize chytrid predation with the aim of reducing zoospore densities to such extent that hosts and pathogens can sustainably coexist. We present a scientific outline of this novel concept and provide a framework for ongoing research to develop a complete mitigation strategy against chytridiomycosis based on such food web control.

尽管正在出现的两栖类疾病壶菌病正在全球范围内造成严重且持续的生物多样性丧失，但目前尚缺乏减轻这种对两栖动物的全球威胁的可持续策略。我们在此基于越来越多的证据提出了一种新颖的生物减缓策略的概念框架，该证据越来越多地证明自然存在的微捕食者（例如原生生物，轮虫和甲壳类动物）能够利用乳糜菌病原体的拟真孢子（Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis（Bd）和Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans）（基本）作为在受控实验室条件下的食物来源。病原体的捕食可以通过降低游动孢子的密度，从而减少感染的负荷，在自然条件下作为预防壶菌的一种经济有效的方式。捕食者与病原体之间的关系不是孤立的相互作用，而是嵌入到与各种环境因素相互作用的水生食物网结构中。由于持续的土地用途用于粮食生产，两栖动物的繁殖池塘越来越与农业景观相关联，使这些水体暴露于多种环境压力下，例如农业化学污染，养分富集和践踏牛群。环境压力因素可能会影响水生群落的组成和数量，同时它们也可能发挥亚致死作用，可能会降低微型捕食者对游动孢子的去除效率。通过仔细控制环境应激源，可以控制营养相互作用以优化壶菌的捕食，以将游动孢子密度降低到宿主和病原体可以可持续共存的程度。我们提出了这一新颖概念的科学概述，并为正在进行的研究提供了一个框架，以开发基于这种食物网控制的完整的乳糜菌缓解策略。