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Weekly Archives:
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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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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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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.
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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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