habitat loss « Frogs Are Green- A blog to raise awareness about the threats frogs face in the world's changing environment. A frog conservation company helping to save frogs from extinction.

Archive for the ‘habitat loss’ Category

Big Chill Helps Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

One of the most endangered amphibians in North America—the mountain yellow-legged frog—might have some hope this spring due to the collaborative work of researchers at the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, along with the help of biologists at the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Courtesy of UC Berkeley, www.crcd.org

As reported in the Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California), researchers from the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, which has a captive breeding program for the frogs, discovered that three months hibernation in near-freezing water is what gets these frogs in the mood for love. In the wild, frogs hibernate in icy, high-elevation streams, not in 55-degree aquariums. To mimic these cool temperatures, they were placed in clear plastic shoe boxes called “Valentine’s Day retreats” and stored in the refrigerators.

When they were removed from the refrigerators in April, they displayed breeding behavior within a few days. According to the institute’s Research Coordinator Jeff Lemm, “It has been wildly successful, and as a result, we could reintroduce about 500 eggs into the San Jacinto Mountains.”*

Only 200 individual mountain yellow-legged frogs exist in the wild. Once common in Southern California’s mountain streams, the frog species is almost extinct due to fungal infections, pollution, habitat loss, and predatory trout introduced for fishing. Researchers hope to re-establish wild populations with the captive-bred frogs.

Kudos to students, researchers, and biologists who are helping to save the mountain yellow-legged frog from extinction!

Please see the video below to learn more about efforts to save the mountain yellow-legged frog. This frog species was also featured in the episode Yosemite in the recently rebroadcast PBS documentary The Thin Green Line, about the amphibian decline, which you can watch online.

*As reported on the University of California’s Natural Reserve System site.

Tags: captive breeding programs for frogs, hibernation mountain yellow-legged frog, Jeff Lemm, mountain yellow-legged frog, PBS documentary frogs, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, The Thin Green Line, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, University of California Natural Reserve System
Posted in Amphibian habitat loss, Frog Conservation, Life Cycle of Frogs, People Helping Frogs and Toads, habitat loss | No Comments »

Vernal Pools: Woodland Nurseries for Frogs and Salamanders

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

This past weekend, I went hiking with my family in Harriman State Park in New York. We’ve had a very wet spring—well, actually it sometimes seems as if we’ve been living in a rainforest. It’s possible that all this rain will means lots of frogs and toads this summer.

While hiking we found a swamp and listened to a wonderful chorus of spring peepers and (we think) Eastern American toads.

My son Jeremy listening to a chorus of spring peers, Surebridge Swamp, Harriman State Park, New York

My son Jeremy listening to a chorus of spring peepers, Surebridge Swamp, Harriman State Park, New York

We also saw lots of vernal pools, bodies of water that appear in the spring and last from two to three months before they dry up in the summer. Some types of amphibians, crustaceans, and other wildlife need these pools for breeding, hatching eggs, or as a nursery while they are young. Because they are temporary, vernal pools do not contain fish (which eat tadpoles and larvae).

When you hike by vernal pools, they don’t look like much. In fact, my sneakers got soaked as I tried to jump over one. Yet they are of critical importance to wildlife. I’ve noticed, however, a lot of comments on environmental blogs that read something like this, “Only treehuggers would want to save these mud puddles!” Yet wood frogs, some species of salamander, and fairy shrimp need these “mud puddles” in order to survive. Every year hundreds of acres of wetlands are lost (usually forever) to commercial or residential development. According to the Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership

These usually small, but very dynamic wetlands fill with water, blossom with life and host a cacophony of sounds and a plethora of life forms every spring, only to disappear into the forest floor every autumn…. A vernal pool is a place where a good naturalist can weave many fascinating stories about the amazing life forms, adaptations, and life histories of its inhabitants, and demonstrate it by a single swoop of a dip net! Vernal pool is a miniature, fascinatingly complex and fragile world, with all of its drama played out every year close to our homes, and yet most of us have never witnessed it. [Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership].

: Salamanders and woodfrogs migrate from their wintering sites to vernal pools for breeding when the conditions are right, courtesy of The Vernal Pool Association

Here are some sites and articles I’ve found (you can also try putting “vernal pool” and the name of your state in google).

Massachusetts (The Vernal Pool Association)

Ohio

Tags: Amphibian habitat loss, Eastern American toads, fairy shrimp, Harriman State Park, life cycle frogs, life cycle salamander, Salamanders, springer peepers, The Vernal Pool Association, vernal pools, wood frogs
Posted in Amphibian habitat loss, Frog Conservation, How You Can Help, Life Cycle of Frogs, People Helping Frogs and Toads, Salamanders, habitat loss | 2 Comments »

Giant Salamander: Earth’s Largest Amphibian

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

We confess to paying most of our attention in our posts on Frogs Are Green to the stars of the amphibian world—frogs—and not so much on other amphibians. So to make up for that, we’d like to introduce you to Earth’s largest amphibian—the giant salamander of China and Japan.

BB-Japanese-Giant-Salamander

This creature is considered a living fossil because it hasn’t changed much in 30 million years. To put things in perspective, 30 million years ago our ancestors were little primates hanging from trees. It would be millions of years before some of these primates descended from the trees, and millions of years after that before the first humans.

The giant salamander lives in mountain streams and lakes and can grow up to 6 feet long. It has four digits on its front legs and five digits on its back legs and is covered with a slimy protective mucous. It spends most of its time walking on the river bottom, though it can swim quickly. On land, its small legs won’t carry it and it must drag itself along.

Like many amphibians, the giant salamander is endangered due to habitat loss. Construction of dams converts their free-flowing stream habitats into standing water or dries them up completely. They are also vulnerable to water pollution from mining activity and farming throughout their range.

Other threats to their habitat includes deforestation around the streams. This exacerbates soil erosion and causes increased runoff and siltation of the streams, reducing water quality and making it difficult for the salamanders to get enough oxygen through their skin. In addition, the giant salamander is considered a delicacy and is also used in traditional Chinese medicine.*

On the BBC News site, Dr. Takeyoshi Tochimoto, director of the Hanzaki Institute near Hyogo in western Japan, gives a guided tour of this unusual creature. (“Hanzaki” is the local name for the giant salamander.) After watching this video, however, I have decided not to hug a giant salamander if I ever meet one. They have a very large mouth and several hundred small teeth on the top and bottom and can bite if angry, causing serious injury. Generally, however, this is a shy and secretive animal and is unfortunately relatively easy to catch.

*Information from BBC Wildlife Finder. Image above courtesy of National Geographic.

Tags: earth's biggest amphibian, endangered amphibians, endangered salamanders, giant salamander, Hanzaki Institute, Takeyoshi Tochimoto, traditional Chinese medicine
Posted in Amphibian habitat loss, Deforestation and amphibians, People Helping Frogs and Toads, Salamanders, habitat loss | 1 Comment »

Yasuni National Park, Ecuador: An Amphibian Eden

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. Courtesy www.banktrack.org

Scientists have recently identified Yasuni National Park in Ecuador as one of the most biologically diverse places in South America, and perhaps on earth. As Shawn McCracken of Texas State University—San Marcos, recently said, “The 150 amphibian species throughout Yasuni is a world record for an area this size. There are more species of frogs and toads within Yasuni than are native to the United States and Canada combined.”

Unfortunately this Eden sits on oil reserves and is threatened by proposed oil development projects. McCracken and other scientists from Ecuador, the United States, and Europe have proposed a moratorium on new oil exploration until the effects of such projects can be explored.

Reading about this, we couldn’t help but think about the movie Avatar and the attempted destruction of the planet Pandora to mine unobtanium. Unfortunately, we humans aren’t as wise as the Na’vi—yet. Let’s hope that Ecuador will preserve this incredible pocket of biodiversity and not be so shortsighted as to destroy parts of it for oil.

Here is more information from Save the Frogs and the Environmental News Service.

Tags: Austin, Avatar, Avatar the movie, biodiversity in the rainforest, Ecuador, Eden, Pandora, San Marcos, save the frogs, Texas State University, University of Texas, Yasuni and frogs, Yasuni National Park
Posted in Amphibian habitat loss, Deforestation and frogs, Frogs and the Rainforest, Rainforest Frogs, habitat loss | 1 Comment »