All Frog & Toad Species Face Extinction - 1/2 Aus. Species Gone In 6 Mos.

[hatrack]

THANKS to our living habits, we may soon live in a world devoid of frogs and their amphibious friends. Fifty international amphibian experts have predicted a mass extinction of the world's frogs, toads and salamanders due largely to rising pollution levels, climatic change and a killer fungal disease - with its effect being felt in Sydney.
In a last-ditch effort to save thousands of amphibious species, the experts have sounded an SOS call for a global mission to avert the imminent ecological disaster.

Conservation International herpetologist Claude Gascon said for the first time in modern history the planet is facing the extinction of an entire class of organisms. "This is not the extinction of just a panda or a rhino, it is a whole class of organisms," Mr Gascon said.

In Australia, where only 250 species remain, more than 40 per cent are classified as threatened. Many of those have not been seen in 30 years. Almost a third of the 5743 known amphibian species worldwide are threatened already by a combination of habitat loss, climate change, pollution, pesticides and ultraviolet radiation.

But it is the latest threat that is being viewed as the final straw in frogs' fate - chytridiomycosis, a skin-damaging fungal disease predicted to wipe out about half the species within six months.

Ed. - Emphasis added.

EDIT

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20180766-2,00.html

[yellerpup]

1. Here come the insects...

Most adaptable needing fewest resources. I always appreciated the amphibious species standing between me and the roaches. K&R! Hugh implicatons! K&R!

[mucho macho]

2. WHOOPS!

NO MORE FROG LEGS FOR ME!

[Odin2005]

3. ALL!?! OMG!!!

[phantom power]

4. OFHWAD

[phantom power]

5. K+R for...

six fucking months???

[acmejack]

6. There was a time when Pakistan exported the majority of the World's

Frog legs. They discovered they were paying so much for DDT and other insecticides to control the insects the frogs would have eaten that they were losing money on the deal. What a serious and tragic development. Insect borne diseases are likely to become a lot more problematic.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. May I make a suggestion?

How about giving tax credit to people who have heavily tree'd lots with water gardens that include specially built frog ponds?

You'd be surprised how quickly those buggers can reproduce.

[PearliePoo2]

10. Then I would qualify for some bucks!

I live on Frog Hollow Lane, a quiet dead-end gravel road I named myself. I built a pond 200' by 175' and 17 feet deep when it's to the top. In the spring evenings the croaking of mating frogs is a symphony turned up to 10.
They say frogs are the canary in the mine and an indicator species of an area's biological health.
This is frightening beyond words.
You can bet I'll be paying attention to the sound coming from the pond next spring.
What to do about the fungus???
fuck

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Nothing worse than an owner of a 200 foot pond. x'cept maybe someone who

owns two sheds. Braggart. Seventeen feet? How big are dem frogs? They like shallow water so they can get out easily during their evolutionary transformation. The heretics.

I love the frog symphony at night. It's white noise to me, but you know it's a matter of time before the neighbors complain.

[NNadir]

11. We have a stream at the edge of our property that has some frogs.

This summer my boys and a neighbor kid caught one and kept him in an aquarium for a day before we returned him to the wild.

I hope he (or she) will have many children.

I'm thinking - long term - of building a pond using ozonolyzed water from my septic system and road run off. This is a long term project and will involve lots of cash and will have to wait for our business to succeed. I originally conceived of the scheme as a means of filtering some of the nitrogen and phosphorous that is finding its way into our ground water, using a drip irrigation system.

But maybe a little frog pond would be in order too.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Watch for leaks. They are water killers.

[4_TN_TITANS]

8. Canaries in the Coal mines

Another sign of the beginning of the end.

[tex-wyo-dem]

14. Your statement is very true ("canaries in a coal mine")...

Frogs, toads and other creatures in this class are among the most sensitive to environmental change. Scientists have been watching the world population of these creatures declining for decades now, and it has been speculated that this is an indication of the world's overall decline in environmental health.

Likely a very, very bad sign for things to come...

[NNadir]

9. That is simply horrible.

[undergroundpanther]

15. This sucks

toads,frogs salamanders, are special beings to me.. Growing up I'd catch toads in the house windowells, and in the garden and they'd always pee on me,when I picked one up,but I didn't hurt them or hold them for long,I picked them up 'cause I adore toads and frogs. I loved looking into toads beautiful golden ringed eyes,

I loved touching thier warty decorated skin,gently,they calmed down fast when they realized you were not a predator and they'd just sit in my hand .As the summer wore on the toads stopped being scared and I could hold them sometimes they'd hop out from under a squash leaf and wait to be picked up and get thier backs rubbed. ,I loved and listening to thier songs. I love American toads, Eastern Spadefoot toads you don't see these guys anymore they are cutie pies.
The Yellow Spotted Salamanders
Goddammit I will miss them ALL.I curse all the corporate thugs for thier callous greed.

[womanofthehills]

16. Shallow wetland pond

I have my bathwater go right out the bathroom wall to a little grew water wetland. I only use non toxic products and it is doing well without even any filters. Cat tails, wildflowers and an apricot tree growing there. However - no frogs yet. I'm planning on making another wetland pond as I live out in the desert.

I just finished reading " Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas" by Tom Robbins for the 2nd time. Lots of interesting frog filled chapters.

[populistdriven]

17. my german grandfather warned me about global frog extinctions 25 years ago

he said that when it happens globally humans are in trouble as a species

[mom cat]

18. I fear that he was right.