I'm an expert on water chemistry and I'm something of an authority on Daphnia - my work on these animals has been used by a bunch of researchers, labs, etc, over the past decade. I must admit to skepticism regarding this article published on Monga Bay. Firstly, Daphnia consume anything that's about 50 microns in diameter or less. They are well known for consuming bacteria, algae, and fungi that are suspended in water. So to say that they are eating Chytrid in the water is hardly surprising. Still, I'm always glad to see new research into the Chytrid menace.

Having said that, Daphnia are incredibly sensitive to water conditions/water chemistry. This is the primary reason why they are used by environmental monitoring companies and academic researchers across the world. It's also why Daphnia magna has a very patchy distribution, and why it can't live in water that lacks an alkaline pH and significant water hardness. I have no problem with the research paper about which Monga Bay/Jeremy Hance is writing, but he describes this research as if it can have some meaningful effect on the spread of Chytrid. This is unrealistic at best.