First the bees...now the frogs

[Horse with no Name]

We simply will not quit until we destroy this planet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6564329.stm

>>>snip
The international team of scientists examined data of amphibian and common reptile populations in La Selva, a protected area of rainforest in Costa Rica.

Between 1970 and 2005, the data showed that the number of amphibians had declined by about 75%, which supported the idea that frogs were being wiped out by the chytrid fungus.

However, the data also showed a similar fall in the area's reptiles, which were not susceptible to the fungus.

Over the same period, the data showed that there had been a 75% reduction in the density of leaves falling to the ground from the rainforest's canopy.

[snappyturtle]

1. I do think we're doing a great job of destroying the earth.

I also think it will continue because most will not bend their lifetyles enough to help. People will not limit the use of their cars....which I believe is a huge part of the problem. Can you imagine not sitting in traffic to get out of a NASCAR race.....nope, they won't even give up the misery they cause themselves. leaves? frogs? bees? they don't care.

[seriousstan]

3. I live the way I want to and buy carbon credits. 5 miles to the gallon and I don't care.

I have the money to live life as I feel. Good enough for the leaders, good enough for me. Let the poor turn the lights off and put on a sweater. I like the heat on and the window open.

[snappyturtle]

12. I hope you don't have any children or grand children because

if you do, the legacy you're leaving them is dreadful.

[seriousstan]

13. I'll leave them enough money to buy carbon credits also. That's all that matters.

Let the poor sweat the details, we have the money to live our type of lifestyle well after others are dying because of their lack of cash. Carbon credits, the pavement on the road to the high life. I love them. Better than absolution any day.

[snappyturtle]

16. Obviously, you have no conscience for your fellow

human beings.....we can only hope that your energy gluttony will be absorbed by those of us who understand the ramifications of your life......carbon credits ARE an absolution. If I were you I'd be embarrassed to profess what you have.

[seriousstan]

17. I live carbon neutral, do you??????

[snappyturtle]

19. Actually, I do. My point is that buying carbon credits is a way

of helping but...........why buy them at what sounds like in your case a lot of units. My vehicle and house with two occupants emits 5.45 tons.....way under the national average. I just wonder if we can buy enough credits to undo the damage and that cutting back will help more in the long run. With population growth isn't there a limit to the number of credits we can buy AND be offset? You do it your way......but I think consciously using less is the best we can do.

[blues90]

4. A few year back I rescued two turtles

from some horrid filthy petshop , they had shell rot and skin fugus due to being shipped and held from south america . I got bashed all to hell being told by a forum that all I did was add to the profit of the petshop .

Well it was see them die or do something , I was able to cure the problems and being one a male and one a female I ended up with 10 eggs that hatched and now all live in a grand home with a closed in pond . Not mine but a breeder for only rescue sake , to keep the species going .

Most people see these sorts of animals as nothing or as a pet or toy .

The trouble is man is going to continue to destroy the environment and these herps cannot tolerate pollution or lost environment . People just keep building homes and destroying everything and there now seems to be no way to stop this .

Even in the 60's I saw new homes spread out in illinois and people just pumped their washing machine swill into the small streams and killed everything . It just not stop .

[snappyturtle]

11. Good for you! What I think people are missing is the "good

feeling" doing deeds like the one you told us about.....knowing you contributed to the life of the earth....really did something!!!!

[zonkers]

15. Good story.

[Igel]

2. The frog die-off is so early '00s.

Seriously, it was discussed to death for years. This article's an update, a corrective, if you will, that says all the discussions were wrong but nonetheless right, and quasi-hysterically understated the state of affairs.

[DCKit]

5. Agree, the Golden toad (or tree frog, if you prefer) went extinct about six years ago

At the time, they had no clue, but the last I heard, about a year ago, was that some soil fungus was blowing over from Africa.

[lonestarnot]

6. frogs have been disappearing for years. I think you have it backwards. First the frogs, then the

bees.

[KittyWampus]

7. then the birds.. then the....

:0

[AuntPatsy]

8. Well the bees must be hiding in my home town since we had three

bee swarm attacks last week....I do agree though that we aren't doing enough to give back to this planet what we have stripped almost bare and will soon pay the price for our ignorance and foolish belief that we are infinately smarter and more superior than mother nature...

[nam78_two]

9. Check it out: Frogs: Global Warming's First Victims

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15176444/site/newsweek/displaymode/1098

Frogs: Global Warming's First Victims
Climate change is no longer merely a matter of numbers from a computer model. With startling swiftness, it is reordering the natural world.

Oct. 16, 2006 issue - Draped like a verdant shawl over Costa Rica's Tilarán Mountains, the Monteverde cloud forest has long been a nature lover's idyll. Hidden birds flirt to the whisper of rushing streams and epiphytes tumble from the mist, while delicate flowers bloom impossibly from the jungle's maw. With luck you might even catch the iridescent flash of the resplendent quetzal, the elegant symbol of the Central American rain forest.

There's one member of this pageant that won't be turning up, however: the Monteverde harlequin frog. Named after its palette of yellow, red and black, this miniature amphibian—a member of the genus Atelopus—had thrived in these Costa Rican mountains for perhaps a million years. Yet the last time

J. Alan Pounds, an ecologist who has studied the cloud forest's wildlife for 25 years, spotted one in Monteverde was in 1988. Its cousin, the golden toad, went missing about the same time. Indeed, the more scientists search, the grimmer the situation looks. A study by 75 scientists published earlier this year in the journal Nature estimated that two thirds of the 110 known species of harlequins throughout Central and South America have vanished. And that may be just the beginning.

The loss of a species is sad enough, not least a jewel like the harlequin, which one researcher described as a tropical Easter egg. What has puzzled scientists is why. For millennia, this denizen of tropical America survived by adapting to whatever changes nature threw its way. Suckers lining the underbelly of tadpoles allow them to cling to rocks without being flushed downstream. The adult's carnival-like costume warns potential predators to stand clear or risk a deadly dose of tetrodotoxin. But apparently there's one peril the harlequin couldn't trump: climate change.

Monteverde gets its lifeblood from the trade winds, which blow moisture uphill where the air cools and condenses into clouds. An ark of plants, insects and animals flourishes in the cool misty mountains. Gradually, though, a warming trend has raised nighttime temperatures and increased cloud cover, which makes for cooler days by blocking solar radiation. The subtle change, which might go unnoticed by us bipeds, is thought to have been ideal for chytridomycosis, a disease caused by a waterborne fungus that has flared up throughout tropical Central and South America. Scientists believe the chytrid disease kills the frogs by blocking their natural ability to absorb water through their porous skin (and perhaps also by releasing a toxin), essentially causing them to die of dehydration.

[InvisibleTouch]

10. I was in Panama in '94...

...with a team that was researching one of the common frog species - little colorful guys (Atelopus) who were all over the streams. Apparently a thriving population. I was told later that by the next year, they were all gone, and I'd been there just in time to see the last of them. Very sad.

Amphibian die-offs and weird deformities have been happening for quite some time. They're another "canary" species that respond very strongly to environmental toxins.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. Frogs have been in trouble for a long time now

They're often the first impacted from water pollution

[Iwasthere]

18. I recently purchased 3.5 acres of dense jungle property in Costa Rica

...for my 50th birthday. And I intend to leave exactly as it is. I am planning to build two large treehouses on it with no TV, no computer, and no radio. A sistern and a couple of solar panels. Guess I am getting old. This post saddens me. Wake up people! Time is running out!