Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumThe Frogs are Dying
The Frogs are Dying
by Steven D
Thu Jan 3rd, 2013 at 05:12:06 PM EST
Fair warning. This will be a bit of a rant. But first, some news (or at least news to some). The frogs are dying all over the world.
In what may be the greatest disease-driven loss of biodiversity in recorded history, hundreds of frog species around the world are facing extinction. [...]
The villain is a rather extraordinary fungus, an amphibian version of a case of athletes foot from hell, with an impossible name, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , which scientists call Bd, a virulent, lethal fungus that has spread around the globe.
Frogs in both of the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean and Australia are dying. Particularly hard hit are species in Central America. This loss of biodiversity is an ecological disaster caused by many factors, but likely the environmental impacts of globalization, pollution and even climate change have played a role in the spread of this killer fungus. If you think the loss of frogs and other amphibians are not important to you watch this video:
video/more @ link~
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/1/3/17126/41587
JEB
(4,748 posts)is such that the injury of one injures the whole. Thanks for posting.
ever learn?
NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)damn
Festivito
(13,452 posts)Things are not looking good.
jody
(26,624 posts)I went fishing one morning but after a short time I ran out of worms.
Then I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in his mouth.
Frogs are good bass bait.
Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog, and put it in my bait bucket.
Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit.
So, I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its mouth. His eyes rolled back, he went limp.
I released him into the lake without incident and carried on fishing using the frog.
A little later, I felt a nudge on my foot. It was that damn snake
with two more frogs.
babylonsister
(171,079 posts)The snake extinction is next!
And it's not really funny, but I refuse to not laugh!
Speck Tater
(10,618 posts)and lead to our own extinction.
Bees? Maybe other insects could pick up the slack as pollinators. Maybe not.
Krill in the ocean? How far up the food chain would the decimation extend? Nobody knows.
Frogs and salamanders? Who cares? Or maybe they are a vital link in a chain that supports US.
We just can't let this crap continue. We are conducting a planet-scale experiment, and if the experiment fails, we all die.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)They are very susceptible to degraded environmental conditions and pollutants.
They are one of the Coal Mine Canaries (Environmental Sentinels) for Environmental Threats.
Most frogs live both in water and on land at different stage of their lives, as tadpoles and as adults, so theyre affected by problems in both types of habitat. Since they take in water directly through their delicate skin, theyre very sensitive to water quality. Because of this sensitivity amphibians are considered a "canary in the coal mine'' for environmental damage."
http://www.saczoo.org/page.aspx?pid=408
Other Environmental "Coal Mine Canaries":
*Honey Bees
*EarthWorms
*ButterFlies
*Humming Birds
*Lightening Bugs
If you are living in an area with rapid population declines in the above,
it is time to think about moving,
but even that is a temporary solution.
AikidoSoul
(2,150 posts)We've lived in N. Florida since 1994 on 21 acres of land on a pond and have seen a huge decline in toads and frogs. Starting about ten years ago the air would become very toxic when the temperature reached dew-point. We would become disoriented, dizzy and have other neurological symptoms. As the moisture came lower it would take the toxicants down with it and concentrate. If we get sick when that happens, one can imagine how tiny frogs with permeable skin would suffer.
Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides...all have increased dramatically over the past decade. We are slowly committing suicide.