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  Scientists at Northern Arizona University (NAU) say that studying the “Ebola virus of the amphibian world” can help us learn more about how infectious disease and climate change will interact in the future and what impacts it could have on vulnerable species. Ranavirus is a type of virus that infects amphibians and can cause systemic infection and organ failure. Amphibians are ectotherms, meaning they are cold-blooded organisms that cannot self-regulate their internal temperature, which makes them sensitive to changes in the climate and viral outbreaks. NAU scientists noticed that tiger salamanders in Arizona are particularly impacted by ranavirus and say they can spread the virus through bodies of water. This species was chosen for the research because of the diverse roles it plays in numerous ecosystems and its place on the food chain, eg being a food source for snakes, fish, and birds. Tiger salamanders typically live for 10 years or longer, which means they have several years to