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Fri, Jul 31, 2015
from Los Angeles Times:
As a killer fungus looms, scientists call for a ban on salamander imports
If it makes its way to our shores, a newly discovered fungus from Asia could wipe out large numbers of salamander species and spark a major North American biodiversity crisis, scientists are warning....
"This is an imminent threat, and a place where policy could have a very positive effect," Vance Vredenburg, a biologist at San Francisco State University and a coauthor of the piece in Science, said in a statement. "We actually have a decent chance of preventing a major catastrophe."...
"This fungus is much worse," UC Berkeley biology professor David Wake, another of the report's coauthors, said in a statement. "Bsal is an acute infection that just turns them into little masses of slime in three to four days." ...
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Eww! Amphebola!
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Thu, Oct 16, 2014
from PhysOrg:
Amphibian communities collapse in wake of viral outbreak
Two closely related viruses that have been introduced to northern Spain in recent years have already led to the collapse of three different species of amphibian--the common midwife toad, the common toad, and the alpine newt--in the protected area of Picos de Europa (literally "Peaks of Europe") National Park. In all, six amphibian species have suffered from severe disease and mass mortality as a result of the outbreak, and researchers who report their findings in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 16 say that the viruses appear to be on the move.
Preliminary evidence shows that related ranaviruses are emerging in other parts of Europe, which surely means more bad news for amphibians ahead.
"The capacity of these viruses to infect multiple species means that there is the possibility that some host populations may be extirpated due to infection," says Stephen Price, now of UCL....
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The Amphibian News Network: "worse than Ebola," calls for cancelling all tadpole adoptions from Spain.
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Sat, Nov 23, 2013
from Zoological Society of London:
The Last Croak for Darwin's Frog?
Deadly amphibian disease chytridiomycosis has caused the extinction of Darwin's frogs, believe scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB), Chile. Although habitat disturbance is recognised as the main threat to the two existing species of Darwin's frogs (the northern Rhinoderma rufum endemic to Chile, and the southern Rhinoderma darwinii from Chile and Argentina), this cannot account for the plummeting population and disappearance from most of their habitat.
Conservation scientists found evidence of amphibian chytridiomycosis causing mortality in wild Darwin's frogs and linked this with both the population decline of the southern Darwin's frog, including from undisturbed ecosystems and the presumable extinction of the Northern Darwin's frog. ...
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Cry me a chytridiomycosis.
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Wed, Oct 16, 2013
from Accuweather:
How is Climate Change Jeopardizing the Sounds of Nature?
Climate change has brought once lively and loud habitats to utter silence as their inhabitants of birds, frogs and insects have either vanished or drastically changed their migration patterns.
A relatively new study known as biophony, or the signature of collective sounds that occur in any given habitat at any given time, has provided scientific evidence to show that the sounds of nature have been altered by both global warming and human endeavors. ...
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Poo-tee-weet?
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Wed, Feb 13, 2013
from Brisbane Times:
Mutant cane toads invade Gladstone
A concerning rate of "mutant toads" with extra limbs and missing eyes are being found in the industrial Queensland city of Gladstone.
Scott Wilson from Central Queensland University said up to 20 per cent of cane toads in certain areas in Gladstone were found with "malformations", compared with 1 per cent of the population in non-urban areas...
Cane toads have been found with a fifth leg growing from their chest, while others have been found with missing limbs....Gladstone is home to a coal-fired power station, two aluminium refineries, and a developing liquefied natural gas industry.
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Sounds like they've been hitting the cane a bit too hard.
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Mon, Feb 4, 2013
from Nature:
Terrestrial pesticide exposure of amphibians: An underestimated cause of global decline?
Amphibians, a class of animals in global decline, are present in agricultural landscapes characterized by agrochemical inputs. Effects of pesticides on terrestrial life stages of amphibians such as juvenile and adult frogs, toads and newts are little understood and a specific risk assessment for pesticide exposure, mandatory for other vertebrate groups, is currently not conducted. We studied the effects of seven pesticide products on juvenile European common frogs (Rana temporaria) in an agricultural overspray scenario. Mortality ranged from 100 percent after one hour to 40 percent after seven days at the recommended label rate of currently registered products. The demonstrated toxicity is alarming and a large-scale negative effect of terrestrial pesticide exposure on amphibian populations seems likely. Terrestrial pesticide exposure might be underestimated as a driver of their decline calling for more attention in conservation efforts and the risk assessment procedures in place do not protect this vanishing animal group. ...
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Should we be blamed if amphibians are a little thin-skinned?
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Mon, Dec 31, 2012
from Washington Post:
Scientists try to save the frogs as time runs out
In moist, mossy rooms, rows of glass aquariums bathed in eerie light shelter the last of the last of the frogs. It is a secure facility, for here reside the sole survivors of their species, rescued from the wild before a modern plague swept through their forests and streams in a ferocious doomsday event that threatens the planet's amphibians with extinction.
The lab smells like a junior-high locker room where the bleach is losing. Perhaps it is all the crickets, larvae, flies -- the food that is keeping the frogs alive. They are safe, at least for now, in what scientists are calling an "amphibian ark." ...The villain is a rather extraordinary fungus, an amphibian version of a case of athlete's foot from hell, with an impossible name, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which scientists call "Bd," a virulent, lethal fungus that has spread around the globe.
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I don't suppose we could frack for frogs.
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Mon, Dec 3, 2012
from London Metro:
Climate change leaves us sweating through 333rd warm month in a row
...According to US government agency the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), our planet is warming at a remarkable consistency.
It measures the worldwide temperature on a monthly basis, comparing it to the average across the 20th century. A few weeks ago, it reported that October 2012 had been the 332nd consecutive month with an above-average temperature. When the figures for November come in on December 17, it is expected to make it 333 in a row.
That means you have to go all the way back to February 1985 for the last month with a below average temperature. ...
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Wait til we get to 666.
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Thu, Nov 29, 2012
from Sydney Morning Herald:
At the edge of disaster
THE world is on the cusp of a "tipping point" into dangerous climate change, according to new data gathered by scientists measuring methane leaking from the Arctic permafrost and a report presented to the United Nations on Tuesday.
"The permafrost carbon feedback is irreversible on human time scales," says the report, Policy Implications of Warming Permafrost. "Overall, these observations indicate that large-scale thawing of permafrost may already have started."
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D'oha!
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Mon, Aug 13, 2012
from Scientific American:
Invasive Fungi Wreak Havoc on Species World-Wide
...Fungi have afflicted species as varied as amphibians, bats, arabica coffee, mangrove crabs, wheat, coral, bees, oak trees, sea turtles and even humans. (For instance, infectious meningitis is caused by a fungus.) ... Long thought to reproduce asexually through mitosis, where each offspring is the identical clone of its parent, scientists have discovered fungi can also reproduce sexually, via meiosis. By nimbly changing their reproductive strategy in response to new environmental conditions, fungi transfer genetic advantages from both parents--just like humans do--giving their offspring a better shot at survival. They also readily hybridize (interbreed between different species), outcross (selectively breed with individuals of different strains within a species) and recombine (exchange genetic material during cell division). ...
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Fungi aren't just bisexual, they're, like, quintsexual!
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Mon, Apr 9, 2012
from San Francisco Bay Citizen:
Despite Deadly Fungus, Bullfrog Imports Continue
About 5 million live American bullfrogs are imported every year into the U.S., nearly two-thirds of which carry the chytrid fungus disease ... The chytrid skin fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or B.d., is harmless to humans but may have wiped out hundreds of amphibian species.... The disease appears to affect only amphibians, and some species are immune to its effects while others succumb rapidly. It causes the amphibians' skin to thicken and leads to cardiac arrest .... Scientists and conservationists fear that the global trade could lead to the extinction of countless species of frogs and salamanders.
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My thick skin ensures my survival.
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Wed, Apr 4, 2012
from United Press International:
Weed killer causes animal shape changes
The world's most popular weed killer can induce morphological changes in vertebrate animals, U.S. biologists studying its effect on amphibians say.
University of Pittsburgh researchers said the weed killer Roundup, in sub-lethal and environmentally relevant concentrations, caused two species of amphibians to change their shape.
The study is the first to show that a pesticide can induce morphological changes in a vertebrate animal, biological sciences Professor Rick Relyea said in a university release Monday.
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Does Roundup make amphibians more round?
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Wed, Feb 8, 2012
from Mother Jones:
The Frog of War
Darnell lives deep in the basement of a life sciences building at the University of California-Berkeley, in a plastic tub on a row of stainless steel shelves. He is an African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, sometimes called the lab rat of amphibians. Like most of his species, he's hardy and long-lived, an adept swimmer, a poor crawler, and a voracious eater. He's a good breeder, too, having produced both children and grandchildren. There is, however, one unusual thing about Darnell.
He's female.
Genetically, Darnell is male. But after being raised in water contaminated with the herbicide atrazine at a level of 2.5 parts per billion--slightly less than what's allowed in our drinking water--he developed a female body, inside and out. He is also the mother of his children, having successfully mated with other males and spawned clutches of eggs. ...
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Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.
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Want more context?
Try reading our book FREE online:
Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies!
More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
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Fri, Nov 18, 2011
from Associated Press:
Study: Triple threat paints grim future for frogs
Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians may eventually have no haven left on the globe because of a triple threat of worsening scourges, a new study predicts.
Scientists have long known that amphibians are under attack from a killer fungus, climate change and shrinking habitat. In the study appearing online Wednesday in the journal Nature, computer models project that in about 70 years those three threats will spread, leaving no part of the world immune from one of the problems. ...
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RIP-bit
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Tue, Nov 8, 2011
from PNAS, via New Scientist:
Frog-killer chytrid fungus was born in trade
The global amphibian trade spread the lethal chytrid fungus, which is decimating frogs around the planet, and it now looks like it may have created the disease in the first place.
The team behind this finding are calling for an amphibian quarantine to help slow the disease's spread....
The best and simplest explanation is that 20th-century trade, which shipped amphibians all over the world, enabled the mating, says Farrer's supervisor Matthew Fisher.
"We've got to restrict trade, or at least make sure that amphibians are not contaminated," says Fisher. One approach would be for countries to quarantine all imported amphibians and only allow them to stay if they are uninfected. ...
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Take out the "fun" in "fungus," and what's left?
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Wed, Oct 26, 2011
from Yale Environment 300:
A Rise in Fungal Diseases is Taking Growing Toll on Wildlife
In an increasingly interconnected world, fungal diseases are spreading at an alarming rate and have led to deadly outbreaks in amphibian, bat, and bee populations. And in the last decade, researchers note, some of the most virulent strains have infected people. On the southeastern outskirts of Washington, D.C., inside the Smithsonian Institution's cavernous Museum Support Center, one can see some frogs that no longer exist. Alcohol-filled glass jars hold preserved specimens of Incilius periglenes, the Monte Verde golden toad; the Honduran frog Craugastor chrysozetetes, which in life was olive-brown with purple palms and soles; its Costa Rican cousin, Craugastor escoces; and Atelopus ignescens, a black toad not seen in the wild for decades.
All of these extinct species are likely victims of the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which attacks the outer skin layers of amphibians, disrupting their water and electrolyte intake so severely that infected animals can die of cardiac arrest. ...
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The fungus among us is ruinous.
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Sat, Aug 27, 2011
from Summit County Voice:
Biodiversity: Can aquatic fleas save the world's amphibians?
Working in a laboratory setting, Oregon State researchers say they've discovered a freshwater organism that eats the free-swimming spores of a fungal pathogen that's been devastating amphibian populations worldwide, including Colorado's endangered boreal toad.
This tiny zooplankton, called Daphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of this deadly fungus if field studies show that the same process works in a natural setting....
"These are just your average Daphnia," zoologist and lead author Julia Buck said Friday in a telephone interview before heading into the field for more research. The small organisms are sometimes described as aquatic fleas. They're native northern and western North America and have been used for decades to test water for toxins.
"They're filter feeders ... so they're just taking in these zoospores," she said.
"There was evidence that zooplankton would eat some other types of fungi, so we wanted to find out if Daphnia would consume the chytrid fungus," said Buck, an OSU doctoral student in zoology and lead author on the study. "Our laboratory experiments and DNA analysis confirmed that it would eat the zoospore, the free-swimming stage of the fungus." ...
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"Average," they may be, but they could become a mighty force for maintaining average!
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Mon, Apr 18, 2011
from St. Petersburg Times:
USF study concludes that common fungicide is deadly to frogs
Two years ago some University of South Florida researchers began studying the effects of the most widely used fungicide in the country to see if it might kill more than just fungus.
Turns out it's also a pretty effective frog-icide.
"We were completely surprised to see it basically killed everything," said Taegan McMahon, the lead researcher on the study, which was published this week in a scientific journal called Environmental Health Perspectives. Frogs on farms with treated fields, frogs in ponds on golf courses, frogs in the back yard -- the fungicide could be lethal to any of them, the study suggests.
"We don't know what the effect on humans could be," she added. "And we use it heavily in Florida."
The fungicide, chlorothalonil, sold under such names as Bravo, Echo and Daconil, is used to treat farmers' fields, lawns and golf courses and is an ingredient in mold-suppressing paint.
It's part of the same chemical family, organochlorines, as the banned pesticide DDT. It is known to cause severe eye and skin irritation in humans if handled improperly.
Chlorothalonil kills mold and fungi by disrupting the respiratory functions of the cells, explained Jason Rohr, an assistant professor who co-authored the study and heads up USF's Rohr Ecology Lab. At this point the researchers don't know if that's how it kills frogs, too, he said. They just know it's lethal. ...
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On Silent Pond.
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Fri, Apr 8, 2011
from St. Petersburg Times:
USF study concludes that common fungicide is deadly to frogs
Two years ago some University of South Florida researchers began studying the effects of the most widely used fungicide in the country to see if it might kill more than just fungus.
Turns out it's also a pretty effective frog-icide... The fungicide, chlorothalonil, sold under such names as Bravo, Echo and Daconil, is used to treat farmers' fields, lawns and golf courses and is an ingredient in mold-suppressing paint.
It's part of the same chemical family, organochlorines, as the banned pesticide DDT. It is known to cause severe eye and skin irritation in humans if handled improperly. ...
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Bravo, indeed, for our unending creativity when it comes to the mindless destruction of the habitat!
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Wed, Mar 9, 2011
from BBC:
Adders, toads and lizards are disappearing from UK
The native adder is effectively disappearing from our landscape, a study has revealed.
The first nationwide survey of UK amphibian and reptiles has found that Britain's most widespread snake, the adder, is in decline.
Slow worms, common lizards and grass snakes are also becoming less widespread, as are the common toad, common frog and the great crested newt.
The only species found to be increasing its range is the palmate newt....
"There is no single trend as different species are sensitive to different issues," explained Dr Wilkinson....
The main drive of amphibian and reptile decline is thought to be habitat fragmentation and development.
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Just in time for St. Patrick's Day.
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Tue, Feb 22, 2011
from Yale360:
Unraveling the Mystery of the Bizarre Deformed Frogs
For the last two decades, strange things have been happening to frogs. Some frog populations have high rates of limb deformities, while others have high incidences of what is known as "intersex" -- traits associated with both males and females, such as male frogs whose testes contain eggs. David K. Skelly, professor of ecology at Yale University's School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, set out to discover what was causing these deformities, which some researchers were attributing to an agricultural pesticide. His work has indeed implicated human activity, but not in the way many researchers had thought.
Skelly says one thing is clear: The deformities showing up in frogs are almost certainly not caused by a single chemical, but rather by a whole suite of substances -- including medicines excreted by humans into the environment -- that act in concert to mimic hormones like estrogen or cause other ill effects. ...
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That means there's no one to blame!
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Thu, Feb 17, 2011
from Huffington Post:
Lost Frogs May Be Extinct, Sign Of 'The Sixth Great Extinction'
Scientists around the world have come up short after an unprecedented attempt to locate 100 species of "lost" frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. These amphibians have all been missing for over a decade, and now scientists fear they are extinct.
The Search for Lost Frogs, organized by Conservation International, the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group, and Global Wildlife Conservation, involved 126 researchers seeking to document the existence of threatened species.
But after a five-month search, only four out of 100 missing species have been located. Conservationists believe that these shockingly low numbers should be a signal to countries that greater efforts must be taken to protect environmentally sensitive species. Over 30 percent of amphibians are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and a deadly fungus. ...
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Well if we found them they wouldn't be lost, now would they?
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Thu, Aug 26, 2010
from New York Times:
Enviro Groups Cheer as Scientist Bombards Atrazine Manufacturer With Profane E-Mails
It sounds like fodder for a PR flap that might benefit the leading producer of the controversial herbicide atrazine: reams of explicit, taunting e-mails sent to company employees by a professor whose research on the health risks of their product had won nationwide notice.... Hayes' e-mails to Syngenta officials date to 2002, according to a 102-page file the atrazine manufacturer posted to its website to buttress an ethics complaint filed against the tenured biology professor last month. His communiques run the gamut from spoken-word poetry to music lyrics -- Phil Collins, Tupac Shakur and other artists are quoted -- to profane intimations of violence against Syngenta officials.
The company's latest complaint furthers its long-simmering feud with Hayes, who has become an outspoken critic of atrazine after years-long research that found the weed killer disrupting the sexual development of frogs, in some cases turning male subjects into females. But the intensely personal clash over Hayes' e-mails, described by a Sygenta lawyer as "aggressive, unprofessional, and insulting," is failing to cut into his support from environmental and farmworker advocates who have helped amplify his warnings about the herbicide's human health risks.... "This is straight out of big tobacco's PR handbook," said Pesticide Action Network North America spokeswoman Heather Pilatic. "The news Syngenta is trying to distract people's attention from, as we're heading into the fall and the tail end of EPA's review, is that atrazine is a serious contaminant."... "I'm not offended by the term 'activist,'" Hayes said. "I am biased because I've seen the data. ... I'm biased in that I don't want [atrazine] in my water. Why shouldn't I make that research available to others?" ...
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OMG! Science can be subjective too?
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Mon, Aug 2, 2010
from NC State University, via EurekAlert:
'Ribbit Radio' shows frog populations likely overestimated
Scientists track amphibian populations because these animals are sensitive to changes in their environment and can serve as "canaries in the coal mine" to give researchers early warnings about pollution or other ecological problems. But new research from North Carolina State University shows that data from the largest amphibian monitoring program in the country may have flaws that, if uncorrected, could result in overestimates of frog populations.... Simons and his co-authors wanted to test the accuracy of these surveys by using the "Bird Radio" system Simons developed previously to test the accuracy of bird census methods. The system, renamed "Ribbit Radio," consists of a series of remotely controlled playback devices that can be used to mimic populations of calling frogs. The researchers set up "Ribbit Radio" in a field and used it to test how well observers identify frog species.
Simons says the researchers immediately noted a lot of "false positives" in the data - meaning that some observers were saying they heard species that were not played by the "Ribbit Radio" system. ...
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If those amphibians would just fill out their census forms!
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Thu, Jul 22, 2010
from Mongabay:
Thirty frog species, including 5 unknown to science, killed off by amphibian plague in Panama
With advanced genetic techniques, researchers have drawn a picture of just how devastating the currently extinction crisis for the world's amphibians has become in a new study published in the Proceedings of the Nation Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Studying frog populations using DNA barcoding in Panama's Omar Torrijos National Park located in El Cope researchers found that 25 known species and 5 unknown species have vanished since 1998. None have returned.
Amphibians are threatened in many parts of the world by pollution, habitat loss, invasive species, over-exploitation, pesticides, and climate change, yet the big killer of the world's amphibians is disease: chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease, is wiping out frogs even in the world's most untouched habitats.... "It's sadly ironic that we are discovering new species nearly as fast as we are losing them," said Andrew Crawford, former postdoctoral fellow at STRI... According to the paper, since arriving the disease has wiped out over 40 percent of the park's total amphibian species, and one-third of the amphibians' evolutionary history. ...
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I'd call that steady-state biodiversity!
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Thu, Apr 29, 2010
from PNAS, via Environmental Research Web:
Double whammy for amphibians
It's clear that the world's amphibians are in trouble - many species have become extinct since the 1980s. What's less obvious is exactly what's causing the problem; climate change and a chytrid fungus are both suspects. Now a US team has linked the extinctions to increased temperature variability caused by El Nino events. They believe this is reducing amphibian's defences against disease.... "Given that global El Nino events and temperature variability were the best predictors of amphibian declines, we believe our results support the notion that global climate change might be contributing to increases in tropical, and perhaps worldwide, enigmatic amphibian declines."... "If changes to climate variation and extreme climate events affect disease risk and species interactions in general, models based on changes to mean climate alone will not effectively predict the biological effects of climate change." ...
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Hey Professor: "Weather extremes ruin amphibian health worldwide. It's much worse than we thought" might have carried more punch.
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You're still reading! Good for you!
You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy):
Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies!
We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day!
Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.
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Tue, Apr 20, 2010
from Telegraph.co.uk:
Frogs threatened by climate change
Scientists looked at records of frogspawn over the last decade recorded by thousands of people in Britain, including viewers of BBC's Springwatch.
The record of 50,000 sightings of frogspawn showed that the amphibians lay their eggs earlier as the temperature warms. Frogs in the south often spawn more than a week earlier to make sure their young have the best chance. But this sensitivity to the local environment makes frogs particularly vulnerable to climate change. Even modest predictions for Britain, that will see temperatures rise by around 2C (3.6F) over the next 50 years, will be too much for the frogs to cope with. "For frog populations to keep in step with medial projections of climate change for 2050-2070, they may need to spawn about 30 days earlier. Their current flexibility, however, may only enable them to spawn seven days earlier," he said. "It's unlikely that frogs will be able to evolve sufficiently rapidly." ...
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The studly junior-high frogs won't mind that at all.
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Tue, Mar 2, 2010
from Greenwich Time:
For frogs, and perhaps humans, there's something strange in the water
Medications leaking into groundwater are producing strange effects on the frogs of Connecticut, effects that could be a harbinger of safety concerns for humans, too, researchers say. A team led by David Skelly, professor of ecology and associate dean for research at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, has found that male frogs are developing eggs in their reproductive tracts... Skelly's team found that deformities were concentrated in suburban and urban areas, which was something of a surprise for the scientists because it was previously thought that chemicals used on the farm were mostly to blame, particularly the widely used cornfield herbicide atrazine.
"But in agricultural areas, only 7 percent of the frogs show these deformities," he said. "In urban and suburban areas, it's about 20 percent." ...
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These urban and suburban frogs are already metrosexual.
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Sat, Jan 23, 2010
from BBC (UK):
Governments 'must tackle' roots of nature crisis
Governments must tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity loss if they are to stem the rate at which ecosystems and species are disappearing.
That was one of the conclusions of an inter-governmental workshop in London held in preparation for October's UN biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan.
Delegates agreed that protecting nature would bring economic benefits to nations and their citizens.... "We have a chance of a much tougher target for 2020 than we had for 2010, which would be about having no net biodiversity loss," he said.
"I think the key thing is whether we'll see over the next few years concerted action on the drivers of biodiversity loss -- if we don't see that in the next few years, then we certainly won't see good results by 2020." ...
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I think we call those "Noneday drivers."
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Thu, Jan 7, 2010
from Yale 360:
Behind Mass Die-Offs, Pesticides Lurk as Culprit
Today, drips and puffs of pesticides surround us everywhere, contaminating 90 percent of the nation's major rivers and streams, more than 80 percent of sampled fish, and one-third of the nation's aquifers. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, fish and birds that unsuspectingly expose themselves to this chemical soup die by the millions every year.
But as regulators grapple with the lethal dangers of pesticides, scientists are discovering that even seemingly benign, low-level exposures to pesticides can affect wild creatures in subtle, unexpected ways -- and could even be contributing to a rash of new epidemics pushing species to the brink of extinction.
In the past dozen years, no fewer than three never-before-seen diseases have decimated populations of amphibians, bees, and -- most recently -- bats. A growing body of evidence indicates that pesticide exposure may be playing an important role in the decline of the first two species, and scientists are investigating whether such exposures may be involved in the deaths of more than 1 million bats in the northeastern United States over the past several years. ...
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Aren't bats, frogs, and bugs simply pests anyway?
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Thu, Nov 5, 2009
from Times Online (UK):
One in five mammals threatened with extinction
A fifth of the world's known mammals, a third of amphibians and reptiles and more than two thirds of plants are threatened with extinction, according to the latest "Red List" of endangered species.
Of the 5,490 mammal species that have been identified by scientists, 79 are extinct or extinct in the wild, 188 are critically endangered, 449 are endangered and 505 are classed as vulnerable, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said.
The annual Red List, published yesterday, also shows that 70 per cent of identified plants, 35 per cent of invertebrates, 37 per cent of freshwater fish, 30 per cent of amphibians, 28 per cent of reptiles and 12 per cent of birds are under threat. The survival of a total of 17,921 species is in jeopardy. ...
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We're still winning the War On Nature!
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Mon, Oct 12, 2009
from Diversitas, via EurekAlert:
World will miss 2010 target to stem biodiversity loss, experts say
The goal was agreed at the 6th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2003. Some 123 world ministers committed to "achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the local, national and regional levels, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth."... "Yet changes to ecosystems and losses of biodiversity have continued to accelerate. Since 1992, even the most conservative estimates agree that an area of tropical rainforest greater than the size of California has been converted mostly for food and fuel. Species extinction rates are at least 100 times those in pre-human times and are expected to continue to increase."
However, she adds, "the situation is not hopeless. There are many steps available that would help but we cannot dawdle. Meaningful action should have started years ago. The next best time is now." ...
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I hate goals that merely reduce the current rate of loss.
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Tue, Sep 8, 2009
from CBC News (Canada):
Fungus threatens P.E.I. frogs
A fungus that's potentially deadly for frogs has been found in ponds on [Prince Edward Island]. Chytrid is an infection that is causing problems for frog populations around the world. The fungus, which lives in the skin of the frog, is causing 200 species of frogs to decline severely or go extinct.
This summer, a team of researchers swabbed 114 frogs at 18 ponds across the Island. More than half those ponds showed cases of chytrid.
"Some of the frogs actually go into spasms, sort of like having a seizure," Maria Forzan, a wildlife pathologist with the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre, told CBC News last week.
"They lose weight very quickly and within three or four days, basically they're dead." ...
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There are frogs in Canada? Oh yeah, it's got that part-French thing going on, doesn't it.
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Tue, Aug 18, 2009
from Mongabay, via Treehugger via BoingBoing:
Pesticide use linked to dying frogs in California
Don Sparling of Southern Illinois University Carbondale found that minute quantities of endosulfan -- the active ingredient in many pesticides -- was enough kill frogs.
"At 0.8 parts per billion, we lose all of them," Sparling said. 8 parts per billion is the equivalent of a dozen salt grains dissolved in 500 gallons of water.
"We always thought there was an association between pesticides and declining amphibian populations, and we're building up a body of evidence to show this is the case."
Sparling and colleagues found that endosulfan are making their way, likely via wind currents, into critical frog habitat, triggering die-offs among Pacific tree frogs and foothill yellow-legged frogs, which are native to meadows in California's Sierra Mountains.... "These pesticides are applied by airplanes and we found that the wind would blow some of it up into the mountains, for instance. In other cases, these chemicals would volatize after being applied, turning into a gaseous state, which could also be picked up and spread into the mountains by wind." ...
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That is the ugliest canary I've ever seen.
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Mon, Jul 27, 2009
from Wiley-Blackwell, via EurekAlert:
Disease threat may change how frogs mate
Ranavirus, which had its first reported case in England in the early 1980s, is one of many pathogens ravaging the amphibian community.
Dr Teacher's pioneering new research looks at the genetic make-up of populations, and indicates that wild frog populations that have been infected with this virus may be choosing mates differently to those in healthy populations.
As Ranavirus is typically associated with heavy death tolls in infected populations, there are often few frogs left alive to mate. This frequently leads to inbreeding, which causes an increase in relatedness in the population. However, Dr Teacher has uncovered startling results; finding that despite inbreeding there has been no subsequent increase in relatedness in these populations.
Dr Teacher's conclusion is that this lack of relatedness has been caused by a change in the frogs' mating strategy. With diseased frogs struggling to mate, healthy frogs are likely to be mating more often with other healthy frogs, leaving diseased frogs to mate with each other. ...
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Clearly, they're not drinking enough beer.
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Wed, Jul 15, 2009
from Jerusalem Post:
Study shows dramatic decline in coastal wetlands
The recently published study... entitled "Decline of wetland ecosystems in the coastal plain of Israel during the 20th century," discusses the harmful impact of humans on the country's wetlands over the past century. It makes use of satellite images, aerial photographs and historical maps to chart the history of the country's dramatic wetland decline. According to the report, "Out of 192 swamps and rain pools recorded in historical sources, only 18 percent [35] still exist today."
The study attributed the decline, which was also found to have taken its toll on local plants and animals, to an "increase in population, farming and built-up areas."
According to Prof. Noam Levin, the study's author, several species had "disappeared from Israel." One of those species was a rare amphibian unique to Israel, he said. "The only place in the world it existed was in Israel. They drained the lakes and swamps and it wasn't found anywhere again," Levin told The Jerusalem Post. ...
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We extinguish species with such efficiency.
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Thu, Jul 2, 2009
from BBC:
World 'still losing biodiversity'
An unacceptable number of species are still being lost forever despite world leaders pledging action to reverse the trend, a report has warned.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says the commitment to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 will not be met.
It warns that a third of amphibians, a quarter of mammals and one-in-eight birds are threatened with extinction.
The analysis is based on the 44,838 species on the IUCN Red List.
"The report makes for depressing reading," said co-editor Craig Hilton Taylor, manager of the IUCN's Red List Unit.
"It tells us that the extinction crisis is as bad, or even worse than we believed. ...
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"Still"? Heck, we're just gettin' started!
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Wed, Jun 24, 2009
from Grist:
Frogs in the forest: the new canaries in the coal mine
We sat down with conservation biologist Dr. Kerry Kriger of the newly minted nonprofit Save the Frogs! -- one of several stops he's making in Seattle during a country-wide speaking tour. As one of the lone voices raising the alarm for amphibians, Kriger dished about the worst disease ever to hit wildlife, why it's such a big deal that one-third of amphibians are threatened with extinction, and just how many people actually are having frogs for lunch.... "Frogs have been around 250 million years," he said. "They’ve outlived the dinosaurs ... But in the last thirty, forty, fifty years, they're now going extinct."
Because thin-skinned frogs live both on land and in the water, they are biological indicators of the planet's health -- the proverbial canaries in the coal mine. With over one-third of these species in imminent danger of extinction, what's really alarming is that most of us have no idea what’s going on. ...
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If only they were warm and fuzzy, instead of cold and slimy.
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Fri, May 22, 2009
from Telegraph.co.uk:
Reptiles in Europe more at risk of extinction than birds and mammals
23 per cent of amphibians and 21 per cent of reptiles are at risk of dying out.
Most of the pressure the species in danger face comes from human destruction of their habitat, climate change, pollution and the presence of invasive species. The studies, released on International Biodiversity Day, also show that more than half of frog, toad, salamander and newt species (59 per cent) in Europe are suffering declines in their populations. And 42 per cent of reptiles are in decline, the IUCN said.... Dr Helen Temple, programme officer for the IUCN Red List unit, said: "Natural habitats across Europe are being squeezed by growing human populations, agricultural sprawl and pollution.
"That is not good news for either amphibians or reptiles." ...
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"Not good news" for humans much, either.
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Wed, Mar 18, 2009
from National Geographic:
The Vanishing
We are witnessing a mass extinction. An exotic fungus is delivering the fatal blow to many amphibians already hit by habitat loss, pollution, and climate change... Frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, wormlike (and little-known) caecilians—these are the class Amphibia: cold-blooded, creeping, hopping, burrowing creatures of fairy tale, biblical plague, proverb, and witchcraft. Medieval Europe saw frogs as the devil; for ancient Egyptians they symbolized life and fertility; and for children through the ages they have been a slippery introduction to the natural world. To scientists they represent an order that has weathered over 300 million years to evolve into more than 6,000 singular species, as beautiful, diverse—and imperiled—as anything that walks, or hops, the Earth.
Amphibians are among the groups hardest hit by today's many strikes against wildlife. As many as half of all species are under threat. Hundreds are sliding toward extinction, and dozens are already lost. The declines are rapid and widespread, and their causes complex... ...
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Rest in ribbit!
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Tue, Feb 10, 2009
from UC Berkeley, via EurekAlert:
Scientists document salamander decline in Central America
The decline of amphibian populations worldwide has been documented primarily in frogs, but salamander populations also appear to have plummeted, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists.
By comparing tropical salamander populations in Central America today with results of surveys conducted between 1969 and 1978, UC Berkeley researchers have found that populations of many of the commonest salamanders have steeply declined.
On the flanks of the Tajumulco volcano on the west coast of Guatemala, for example, two of the three commonest species 40 years ago have disappeared, while the third was nearly impossible to find.... Frog declines have been attributed to a variety of causes, ranging from habitat destruction, pesticide use and introduced fish predators to the Chytrid fungus, which causes an often fatal disease, chytridiomycosis.
These do not appear to be responsible for the decline of Central American salamanders, Wake said. Instead, because the missing salamanders tend to be those living in narrow altitude bands, Wake believes that global warming is pushing these salamanders to higher and less hospitable elevations. ...
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Aren't salamanders those critters that can grow a new life, if the old one is bitten off?
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Wed, Jan 21, 2009
from New Scientist:
Appetite for frogs' legs harming wild populations
... [C]onservationists are warning that frogs could be going the same way as the cod. Gastronomic demand, they report, is depleting regional populations to the point of no return.... Bickford estimates that between 180 million to over a billion frogs are harvested each year. "That is based on both sound data and an estimate of local consumption for just Indonesia and China," he says. "The actual number I suspect is quite a bit larger and my 180 million bare minimum is almost laughably conservative." ...
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I think this scientist may be leaping to conclusions.
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Tue, Dec 30, 2008
from via ScienceDaily:
Climate Change Effects On Imperiled Sierra Frog Examined
Climate change can have significant impacts on high-elevation lakes and imperiled Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged frogs that depend upon them, according to U.S. Forest Service and University of California, Berkeley, scientists. Their findings show how a combination of the shallow lakes drying up in summer and predation by introduced trout in larger lakes severely limits the amphibian's breeding habitat, and can cause its extinction... Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged frogs need two to four years of permanent water to complete their development so repeated tadpole mortality from lakes drying up in summer leads to population decline. The scientists found the effect to be a distinct mortality mechanism that could become more important in a warmer, drier climate. ...
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RIPbit
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Sat, Nov 22, 2008
from New Scientist:
Experts plan 'doomsday vault' for frog sperm
The freezer could be the future for frogs and other amphibians. Efforts announced today are currently underway around the world to boost amphibian numbers with cryopreservation and assisted reproduction.
Breeding frogs and their cousins to increase numbers could help vulnerable species survive looming extinctions. But getting amphibians to mate is not always straightforward, so researchers are developing other techniques to give them a helping hand.
One proposal resembles the doomsday seed vault which opened this year in Norway. Only instead of plant seed, the amphibian vault would store sperm, guaranteeing amphibian genetic diversity for times of dwindling populations. ...
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Work is also underway to create special magazines for the frogs -- to aid in the process of collecting that sperm!
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Thu, Nov 6, 2008
from Christian Science Monitor:
Why frogs are croaking
In the quest to find out why frog species have been declining so dramatically, various researchers have blamed climate change, disease, pollution, and increases in ultraviolet light from the sun reaching the surface. If two new studies are any indication, the answer increasingly appears to be: all of the above. ...
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Damn. Now we have to fix everything.
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Thu, Oct 30, 2008
from Science:
Farm chemicals can indirectly hammer frogs
Atrazine, the second-most widely used agricultural pesticide in America, can pose a toxic double whammy to tadpoles. The weed killer not only increases the likelihood that massive concentrations of flatworms will thrive in the amphibians’ ponds, a new study reports, but also diminishes the ability of larval frogs to fight infection with these parasites. Moreover, the new data show, runoff of phosphate fertilizer into pond water can amplify atrazine’s toxicity. The fertilizer does this by boosting the production of algae on which snails feed. Those snails serve as a primary, if temporary, host for the parasitic flatworms, which can sicken frogs. ...
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Those snails! Nothing but traitors!
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Mon, Oct 27, 2008
from Charleston Post and Courier:
Effects on wildlife studied
Frogs and other amphibians are experiencing a mysterious and dramatic decline across the world. Pollution is one suspect, he said. Climate change and disease are others.
But his particular interest is coal-combustion waste, which he said is a complex brew of arsenic, selenium, chromium, mercury and other contaminants. More and more research is showing that these wastes are affecting wildlife. ...
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Bubble, bubble / frogs in trouble / no eyes of newt / just heavy metal.
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Thu, Oct 23, 2008
from University of Georgia via ScienceDaily:
Ecosystem-level Consequences Of Frog Extinctions
Streams that once sang with the croaks, chirps and ribbits of dozens of frog species have gone silent. They're victims of a fungus that's decimating amphibian populations worldwide. Such catastrophic declines have been documented for more than a decade, but until recently scientists knew little about how the loss of frogs alters the larger ecosystem. A University of Georgia study that is the first to comprehensively examine an ecosystem before and after an amphibian population decline has found that tadpoles play a key role keeping the algae at the base of the food chain productive. ...
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Tadpoles... propping up the ecosystem!
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Thu, Oct 16, 2008
from University of Georgia:
UGA study reveals ecosystem-level consequences of frog extinctions
A University of Georgia study that is the first to comprehensively examine an ecosystem before and after an amphibian population decline has found that tadpoles play a key role keeping the algae at the base of the food chain productive.... Without tadpoles swimming along the streambed and stirring up the bottom, the amount of sediment in the stream increased by nearly 150 percent, blocking out sunlight that algae need to grow... The UGA research team is continuing to monitor the health of the streams to get valuable, long-term data. So far the stream has not rebounded. "It's still sad going back," Connelly said, to which Pringle added: "Once the frogs die, it's like an incredible silence descends over the whole area. It's eerie."
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Silent streams, silent screams.
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Mon, Oct 13, 2008
from Mongabay:
Armageddon for amphibians? Frog-killing disease jumps Panama Canal
Chytridiomycosis -- a fungal disease that is wiping out amphibians around the world -- has jumped across the Panama Canal, report scientists writing in the journal EcoHealth. The news is a worrying development for Panama's rich biodiversity of amphibians east of the canal.... While scientists don't yet know the origin of the fungus, they suspect it might be the African clawed frog, a species that has been shipped around the world for research purposes. The fungus is highly transmissible and has spread to at least four continents, in some cases probably introduced unintentionally by humans in the treads of their shoes. As it spreads, the disease lays waste to more than 80 percent of amphibians across a wide range of habitats, including those that are undisturbed by humans. Some researchers have suggested that climate change could be creating conditions that exacerbate the impact of the pathogen -- which predominantly affects highland species -- although the theory is still controversial.
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Ribbit. Ribbi. Ribb. Ri. R...
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Fri, Sep 26, 2008
from Times Online (UK):
Amphibians facing a wipeout by 2050
Half of Europe's amphibian species could be wiped out in the next 40 years. Scientists from the Zoological Society of London say that the combined force of climate change, pollution, disease and habitat loss and degradation has left many with "nowhere to run".
After assessing the amphibians' prospects, they predicted that more than 50 per cent of the 81 species native to Europe faced extinction by 2050.
Even surviving species, they said, were likely to suffer a decline in numbers and distribution, including the common toad in Britain, which is already being affected by climate change. ...
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Hop to it, world.
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Mon, Sep 22, 2008
from Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Atrazine found in lakes far from farm sources
The widely used weed-killer atrazine is showing up in pristine lakes in northern Minnesota far from farm country, and scientists believe the chemical is falling out of the sky. In the first statewide study of pesticides in Minnesota lakes, government scientists discovered small amounts of atrazine in nine out of 10 lakes sampled, including some in or near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. ...
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To paraphrase that great philosopher, Chicken Little, the sky is falling and it's full of atrazine.
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Thu, Sep 11, 2008
from AP, via Topix:
Australian researchers discover elusive frog
The 1.5 inch-long Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state.
But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university. ...
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Not quite leaping back, but still swell.
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Sun, Aug 17, 2008
from University of California - Berkeley via ScienceDaily:
Dying Frogs Sign Of A Biodiversity Crisis
"Devastating declines of amphibian species around the world are a sign of a biodiversity disaster larger than just frogs, salamanders and their ilk, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley... researchers argue that substantial die-offs of amphibians and other plant and animal species add up to a new mass extinction facing the planet." ...
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Clearly, we're all going to croak.
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Tue, Aug 12, 2008
from PNAS, via ScienceDaily:
New Report Details Historic Mass Extinction Of Amphibians; Humans Worsen Spread Of Deadly Emerging Infectious Disease
Amphibians, reigning survivors of past mass extinctions, are sending a clear, unequivocal signal that something is wrong, as their extinction rates rise to unprecedented levels, according to a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Humans are exacerbating two key natural threats -- climate change and a deadly disease that is jumping from one species to another.... "An ancient organism, which has survived past extinctions, is telling us that something is wrong right now" Vredenburg said. "We -- humans -- may be doing fine right now, but they are doing poorly. The question, really, is whether we'll listen before it's too late." ...
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Amphibians? What are they doing in my mine? And why is that canary lying down on the job?
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Thu, Jul 17, 2008
from Public Library of Science via ScienceDaily:
Frogs With Disease-resistance Genes May Escape Extinction
"As frog populations die off around the world, researchers have identified certain genes that can help the amphibians develop resistance to harmful bacteria and disease. The discovery may provide new strategies to protect frog populations in the wild. New research examines how genes encoding the major histocompatibility (MHC) complex affect the ability of frogs to resist infection by a bacterium that is commonly associated with frog population declines." ...
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These findings have legs!
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Fri, Jul 11, 2008
from New Scientist:
Corals join frogs and toads as world's most endangered
"Within one generation, diving on coral reefs could be a very rare holiday opportunity. The first comprehensive review of tropical coral species reveals that over one-quarter reef-building coral species already face extinction.
This means corals join frogs and toads as the most threatened group of animal species on the planet." ...
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Can't you just see their little tentacles reaching up, pleading for our help?
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Fri, Jul 4, 2008
from University of Florida, via EurekAlert:
New study points to agriculture in frog sexual abnormalities
In a study with wide implications for a longstanding debate over whether agricultural chemicals pose a threat to amphibians, UF zoologists have found that toads in suburban areas are less likely to suffer from reproductive system abnormalities than toads near farms -- where some had both testes and ovaries.
"As you increase agriculture," said Lou Guillette, a distinguished professor of zoology, "you have an increasing number of abnormalities." ...
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That said, the suburban toads have that hellacious commute.
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Sun, Jun 15, 2008
from Toronto Globe and Mail:
An amphibious assault
"Around the world, frogs and toads are falling victim to a loss of habitat, pesticides, pollution and an insidious, quick-acting fungus... Amphibians are disappearing faster than any other animals since the dinosaurs: 32 per cent of all species are threatened with extinction, compared with 23 per cent of mammals and 12 per cent of birds. Almost half are in decline." ...
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There is no where for them to jump out of this boiling earth.
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Thu, May 22, 2008
from AP, via Belleville News-Democrat:
Conservationists auction off frog naming rights
Amphibian Ark, an international collaboration of conservationists working to save frogs, is organizing the effort to auction the naming rights to five species of frogs on the Internet - one frog a month for five months.
Profits will fund efforts to protect frogs at a crucial time, said Kevin Zippel, Amphibian Ark's program director. Amphibians have been on the planet for 360 million years, but based on recent science, "This is the greatest extinction rate they've ever faced," he said. ...
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Cool! I think I'll bid for
Itstoolatebutwe apologii.
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Fri, May 9, 2008
from UCSF, via ScienceDaily:
Common Herbicide Disrupts Human Hormone Activity In Cell Studies
A common weedkiller in the U.S., already suspected of causing sexual abnormalities in frogs and fish, has now been found to alter hormonal signaling in human cells, scientists from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) report. The herbicide atrazine is the second most widely used weedkiller in the U.S., applied to corn and sorghum fields throughout the Midwest and also spread on suburban lawns and gardens. ...
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What's a little change in my hormonal signaling?
Look at my lawn!
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Sat, Apr 19, 2008
from Tufts University:
Early Exposure To Common Weed Killer Impairs Amphibian Development
"Tadpoles develop deformed hearts and impaired kidneys and digestive systems when exposed to the widely used herbicide atrazine in their early stages of life, according to research by Tufts University biologists. The results present a more comprehensive picture of how this common weed killer -- once thought to be harmless to animals -- disrupts growth of vital organs in amphibians during multiple growth periods." ...
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Dude. How could something kill something living...and not be harmful to other living things?
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Tue, Apr 8, 2008
from New York Times:
Hermaphrodite Frogs Found in Suburban Ponds
"Just as frogs' mating season arrives, a study by a Yale professor raises a troubling issue. How many frogs will be clear on their role in the annual springtime ritual? Common frogs that make their homes in suburban areas are more likely than their rural counterparts to develop the reproductive abnormalities previously found in fish in the Potomac and Mississippi Rivers, according to the study by David Skelly, a professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Dr. Skelly's research found that 21 percent of male green frogs, Rana clamitans, taken from suburban Connecticut ponds are hermaphrodites, with immature eggs growing in their testes.
The study is the latest in a decade's worth of research that has found intersex characteristics in water-dwelling species like sharp-tooth catfish in South Africa, small-mouth bass on the Potomac and shovelnose sturgeon in the Mississippi. ...
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Maybe these frogs are not so much intersexual as they are metrosexual.
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Sat, Mar 8, 2008
from Globe and Mail (Canada):
Tadpoles, sun, and ozone
"A number of studies have suggested that higher levels of ultraviolet radiation -- due to ozone depletion -- can damage frog DNA.... [A] team at the University of Ottawa's Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics has found that even a slight increase in ultraviolet B radiation -- similar to what would hit frog eggs on a spring day in Ottawa -- can be disastrous. Many of the tadpoles exposed to low levels had physical abnormalities that would be deadly in the wild, such as kinked tails that forced them to swim in circles, or bloated abdomens. It appeared as if they could eat, but not defecate, biologist Vance Trudeau says. Unlike those in the control group, very few of the tadpoles exposed to UVB developed into frogs." ...
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Imagine: little tadpoles, swimming around in circles, not knowing what's wrong.
The spiraling-down metaphors are
a little too obvious.
ApocaDoc
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Thu, Feb 28, 2008
from Prince George Citizen:
Canadian frogs endangered
"Quebec aquariums and zoos are leaping to the defence of an animal that is increasingly threatened with extinction in La Belle Province and around the world -- frogs. The Quebec croaker and its amphibious friends are disappearing at a massive rate, with scientists estimating that up to one-half of species worldwide are in danger of disappearing. Some 120 species of amphibians have gone extinct in recent years, scientists say." ...
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Maybe it will help if we, ahem, stop calling it the croaker.
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