porous skin? nature gone awry? hmmmm.
and likely headed for oblivion soon enough. ;-)
Posted on 09/19/2005 10:31:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - International conservation groups proposed a $404 million effort Monday to preserve frogs and other amphibians whose sensitive, porous skins often make them the first indicator of when nature goes awry.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Conservation International and other groups said they plan a series of emergency actions and long-term research that includes describing at least 1,000 new species, preventing future habitat loss and reducing trade in amphibians for food and pets.
The groups are looking to governments, private institutions and individual donors for funding.
"The frogs are trying to tell us something," said Andrew Dobson, a Princeton University professor who studies infectious diseases in the wild. "We're making the world a sicker place and, mercifully, the frogs have picked up on it before us humans."
Almost a third of all the known species of frogs, toads and other amphibians are considered "globally threatened" by the IUCN, which is based in Gland, Switzerland. By comparison, 23 percent of mammal species and 12 percent of bird species are threatened.
Declines and disappearance of amphibian species are occurring the most in North and South America, Puerto Rico and Australia. The chief causes are a fungal disease that tends to occur at higher elevations and by streams, habitat loss and degradation, climate change, chemical pollution, non-native species and over-harvesting of amphibians for food and pets.
"The fungus is the cause of a lot of the massive die-offs we're seeing in recent years," said Claude Gascon, a senior vice president at Conservation International.
Scientists have discovered 5,743 species of amphibians so far, but they believe about 10,000 exist. Those include frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians — snakelike creatures that live mostly underground.
At least 43 percent of the known species are declining in population size, including 1,856 that might soon become extinct, according to a team of 500 scientists in 60 countries. In the past 35 years, they believe, 122 species already might have disappeared.
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On the Net:
World Conservation Union: http://www.iucn.org
Global Amphibian Assessment: http://www.globalamphibians.org
Conservation International: http://www.conservation.org
I thought the French were doing quite well for themselves. Didn't know that people studied their skin for environmental reasons!!!! I learn new things each day :)
404 Million for FROGS??!!??!??
ribbit
Just damn.
porous skin? nature gone awry? hmmmm.
and likely headed for oblivion soon enough. ;-)
Yea .. they you are NUTS to ask for 404 MILLION !
Another indication that the world has just gone completely insane.
(Just stop the French from eating frog legs, and the frog population will go up dramatically.)
The best way to preserve the frogs is to make it profitable, which means promoting their use in food.
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I saw some frog legs for sale at the local Walmart today. I've heard that they taste good...never had the guts to try them though.
Seriously though... If something is profitable, businesses will pay to keep it around. No tax dollars necessary.
It ain't easy being green.
A little girl walks up to her grandfather and says:
"Grandpa, can you make a sound like a frog?"
Grandpa says:
"Honey, why do you want me to do that?"
And the little girls says:
"Well, Daddy said that when you croak, we all get to go to Disney World!"
Nope. My end of the reserve has seen a tremendous resurgence of all toads, lizards, and frogs over the past five years.
We also have more snakes than I've seen in a decade and a lot more insects. We also have a lot more mice and rats. (Not the nasty city sewer rats. Just nice swamp rats. For some reason, they aren't afraid of humans either.)
Hmmmmm......I wonder. Do you think the fact that the drought ended here two years ago has anything to do at all with the resurgence of flora and fauna.
And the fact that there are no insecticides or pesticides used here and lots of bugs flourish?
(Yeah, yeah. I own stock in Cutters. Cases of it in fact.)
IUCN = CCCP
This fits my personal observation: Caddo Lake, a large, everglade-like, semi-natural body of water in Northeast Texas, was a very noisy place 25 years ago. There was a continuous chorus of "peeps" from tiny tree frogs, interspersed with the low, booming croaks of bullfrogs. Now, it is eerily quiet.
Since I "escaped my MA exile" in 2001, I have fished "Caddo" numerous times -- in near-total silence. A few months ago, we finally heard one (1) bullfrog!
There is much speculation as to the cause, but amphibians are now little more than a memory here in northeast Texas...
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