Use the Following Information to Answer the Question

question 57

Multiple Choice

Use the following information to answer the question.
For several decades now, amphibian species worldwide have been in decline. A significant proportion of the decline seems to be due to the spread of the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) . Chytrid sporangia reside within the epidermal cells of infected animals, animals that consequently show areas of sloughed skin. They can also be lethargic, which is expressed through failure to hide and failure to flee. The infection cycle typically takes four to five days, at the end of which zoospores are released from sporangia into the environment. In some amphibian species, mortality rates approach 100%; other species seem able to survive the infection.
If infection primarily involves the outermost layers of adult amphibian skin, and if the chytrids use the skin as their sole source of nutrition, then which term best applies to the chytrids?

• A) anaerobic chemoautotroph
• B) aerobic chemoautotroph
• C) anaerobic chemoheterotroph
• D) aerobic chemoheterotroph

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