Showing posts with label frogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frogs. Show all posts

5/25/13

Amphibians declining in the U.S., report says

Reg-legged frog

By Julie Cart
May 24, 2013
Los Angeles Times

Amphibians are disappearing in the United States at an unexpectedly brisk pace. More disturbing, according to a report this week from the U.S. Geological Survey, the more rare the species of toad, frog or salamander, the higher the risk of decline.

The author's sobering conclusion: “This analysis suggests that amphibian declines may be more widespread and severe than previously realized.”

The study found that on average, populations of amphibians vanished at a rate of 3.7 percent each year. At that rate, those species would disappear from half their current habitats in about 20 years.

Story continues here: latimes.com

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Posted by Mark Turner at 5/25/2013 0 comments
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Glow-in-the-Dark Cockroach, Worlds Smallest Frog: Year's List of Top New Species

PHOTO: Scientists announce top 10 new discovered species list for 2013.
Scientists announce top 10 new discovered species list for 2013. (Intl. Inst. for Species Exploration at Arizona State Univ.)

By DANIEL BEAN
ABC World News
May 23, 2013

What's new in animal species? Plenty, according to a new Top 10 list that includes everything from a glow-in-the-dark cockroach to an "Old World" monkey with a bright blue buttocks.

"Through the top 10, we are really just trying to raise awareness about how many species there are on the planet," Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE), told ABC News. This is the sixth annual such list by the Institute at Arizona State University.

"On average, 18,000 species a year are discovered. That sounds like a lot, but it really isn't."

Wheeler said there are an estimated 10 to 12 million living species, but only about 2 million have been discovered. This year's top 10 list was whittled down from more than 140 nominees.

While the institute simply compiles a list, "These discoveries are actually made by professionals and amateurs around the world," he said.

The 2013 release by the IISE showcases, among many impressive things, the discovery of the world's smallest vertebrate - a tiny, 7 millimeter frog found in Papua, New Guinea. An image released by the institute shows the frog taking up about a third of the space on the face of a U.S. dime. The largest known vertebrate in the world is the blue whale, measuring 85 feet long.

A new type of luminescent (or glow-in-the-dark) cockroach specimen was discovered in Ecuador. Though the species may have already been extinct for some time, Wheeler said it's believed that the cockroach would mimic the toxic luminescent clicking beetle to ward off predators. This cockroach is one of more than a dozen species of luminescent cockroaches discovered since 1999.

Story continues here: abcnews.go.com

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Posted by Mark Turner at 5/25/2013 1 comments
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5/19/13

Invasion of the 'Killer Frogs' and the 'Crazy Ants', Killing Off their Native Cousins



Two stories of species invading the Southwest and killing off their dominate cousins have been making the news in May of 2013. Clawed Frogs with killer fungus and Crazy Aunts bumping off native fire aunts. 


Killer Frogs

SFSU biologist Vance Vredenburg, PhD, who is the lead author of the study on the frog plague, says that a fungus is to blame. It was brought in from clawed African frogs. "California's Yellow frog and an astonishing 40 percent of all frogs worldwide are being drive to extinction in three decades," reports KTVU News. Regarding the Africa Clawed frogs, Doctor Vredenburg states: "They don't even show signs of disease and yet they're infected. What are they doing different than these native species here in California?"

Crazy Ants
"Invasive “crazy ants” are displacing fire ants in areas across the southeastern United States, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. It’s the latest in a history of ant invasions from the southern hemisphere and may prove to have dramatic effects on the ecosystem of the region.
The “ecologically dominant” crazy ants are reducing diversity and abundance across a range of ant and arthropod species — but their spread can be limited if people are careful not to transport them inadvertently, according to Ed LeBrun, a research associate with the Texas invasive species research program at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in the College of Natural Sciences
The study by LeBrun and his colleagues was published in Biological Invasions.
“When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back,” said LeBrun. “Fire ants are in many ways very polite. They live in your yard. They form mounds and stay there, and they only interact with you if you step on their mound.”
LeBrun said that crazy ants, by contrast, “go everywhere.” They invade people’s homes, nest in crawl spaces and walls, become incredibly abundant and damage electrical equipment."
- University of Texas at Austin

Read the rest of this story here: utexas.edu/news

Story source: ktvu.com   

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Posted by Mark Turner at 5/19/2013 0 comments
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