A team of researchers with the University of Kentucky is contributing to a nationwide effort to understand a fungal disease impacting native snake species.
Ophidiomycosis, or snake fungal disease (SFD), was first documented in the U.S. in 1945 and has been on the rise in the eastern part of the country since 2006.
Steven Price, interim chair of the department of forestry and natural resources and an ecology professor at the University of Kentucky, has been studying the disease’s impact on snakes for more than five years. Since January, he’s led a team along research sites throughout the state, collecting valuable data on local snake population health…