Frog Matters

Full post, and many other great environmental cartoons, on seppo.net/e/.

The United States’ frogs appear to be shrugging off a biologically insensitive comment yesterday by U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. According to ABC News, Senator Clinton used the aphorism, “you can’t tell how far a frog will jump until you punch him,” to describe the resolve of her campaign.

Even when reminded that the candidate mentioned boiling frogs on New Year’s Day (with video) in a speech in Iowa — on the same day that kicked off “the year of the frog“ to draw attention to the amphibian mass-extinction crisis – frogs say they hold no grudge. They cite the reservoir of good will on environmental issues such as clean water that Senator Clinton has built up over the years. Clean water is a core value of the amphibian constituency.

Of course, amphibians have been mentioned before in this presidential race. There is a Web site that uses a cartoon frog to encourage us to place the candidates in a blender. 

U.S. frogs have historically shown great patience during such campaigns — unlike the temperament of amphibian species in other parts of the world. Politicians rarely mention frogs in speeches in Cameroon, for example, where the wolverine frog is known to whip out claw-like bones from under its skin when annoyed. 

When a world leader assesses what’s happening to biodiversity, announces a huge commitment to preventing further loss, and then says, “Nothing less that the basis of our own survival, our very existence, is at stake” — well, it’s a good day for our planet.  Story pasted below and linked here.

Biodiversity: German pledges 500 million euros at UN talks

BONN, Germany (AFP) — Germany on Wednesday pledged half a billion euros (785 million dollars) to help defend threatened forests and called on others to join its effort as a UN conference on biodiversity engaged top gear.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country wanted to set down a “very clear marker” on attaining the UN’s Millennium goal of braking biodiversity loss by 2010.

“The Federal government, between 2009 and 2012, will earmark an additional amount of 500 million euros,” Merkel told the meeting.

“We want to use this money in those areas where forests and other ecosystems are under threat and to find quick solutions for conserving them.”

From 2013, Germany will stump up half a billion dollars, annually, she promised, but added, “obviously, Germany cannot shoulder this enormous global burden alone.”

The three-day “high-level” section of the conference is gathering 87 ministers, with the goal of crafting a new global deal on preserving Earth’s wildlife.

“Noting less that the basis of our own survival, our very existence, is at stake,” Merkel told the 6,000 representatives from 191 countries attending the meeting, launched 11 days earlier.

Participants at the conference are hoping to establish a roadmap towards negotiating, by 2010, an “Access and Benefit Sharing” regulatory framework governing access to genetic resources and sharing the benefits from their use.

Amid sharp debate on the issue, Merkel called for “striking fair balance between rich and poor countries” in the economic exploitation of biodiversity.

The UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso underlined the links between species loss and climate change, and said the world must see protecting biodiversity as an economic imperative.

“Biodiversity underpins our economies … and we cannot afford to deplete our public capital in this way,” he said.

Barroso singled out deforestation as one of the main causes of species loss, and said the European Union was reviewing measures to combat illegal logging, and trade in illegally harvested forest products.

But environment groups have criticised the EU for sitting on a draft law that would ban the importation of such products into Europe.

“The law is finished and ready to go, but because of commercial and business lobbying, the Commission has not gone forward,” said Saskia Richartz, policy director for biodiversity at Greenpeace.

Scientists say that species are becoming extinct at a dizzying rate — between 100 and 1,000 times the natural pace of extinction.

One in four mammals, one bird in eight, one third of all amphibians and 70 percent of plants are under threat.

Development economist Pavan Sukhdev has handed the conference a preliminary report in which the lost of the benefits of biodiversity are put at 3.1 trillion dollars a year, or six percent of the planet’s gross national product (GNP).

Group of Eight environment ministers met in Kobe, Japan, earlier this week, issuing a joint statement acknowledging the fundamental importance of biodiversity and spelling out their support for the Millennium Development Goal of reaching a “significant reduction” in species loss by the end of this decade.

Greenpeace’s Martin Kaiser praised Merkel for sending “a very strong and important signal” for reaching a strong agreement in Bonn.

He called on other industrialised countries to pitch in, and estimated around 30 billion euros (47.1 billion dollars) a year were needed to finance the protection of ancient forests.

The frogmander story’s been out for more than a week and well chronicled on scores of blogs and other Web sites. Here’s the basic story. But this poster, on the Viva La Evolution! blog, is so original I thought it was worth pointing you to this particular post. 

(Vivalaevolution.com)

 CHICAGO (Reuters) - The discovery of a “frogamander,” a 290 million-year-old fossil that links modern frogs and salamanders, may resolve a longstanding debate about amphibian ancestry, Canadian scientists said on Wednesday.

 Modern amphibians — frogs, salamanders and earthworm-like caecilians — have been a bit slippery about divulging their evolutionary ancestry. Gaps in the fossil record showing the transformation of one form into another have led to a lot of scientific debate.

 The fossil Gerobatrachus hottoni or elderly frog, described in the journal Nature, may help set the record straight.

 ”It’s a missing link that falls right between where the fossil record of the extinct form and the fossil record for the modern form begins,” said Jason Anderson of the University of Calgary, who led the study.

 ”It’s a perfect little frogamander,” he said.

 Gerobatrachus has a mixture of frog and salamander features, with fused ankle bones as seen only in salamanders, a wide, frog-like skull, and a backbone that resembles a mix of the two.

Jeremy Elton Jacquot just posted this on TreeHugger: 

With the hot summer months fast approaching, Amphibian Ark, the international organization helping to keep endangered amphibian species afloat (whose efforts we profiled here), needs your help now more than ever. They’ve just embarked on an ambitious new grassroots initiative, called “5 for frogs,” to get more people involved with their efforts and raise awareness; it’s part of their broader “50 ways to save amphibians” initiative.

Read, learn, enjoy this new AP story. And also here is link to the auction page.

Conservationists auction off frog naming rights/Associated Press

 A girl has to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince, but how to interpret the gesture when the prince makes a bid to name a frog in her honor?

That’s one possible scenario, thanks to a new online auction allowing a high bidder to win the right to name a frog species.

Amphibian Ark, an international collaboration of conservationists working to save frogs, is organizing the effort to auction the naming rights to five species of frogs on the Internet - one frog a month for five months.

Profits will fund efforts to protect frogs at a crucial time, said Kevin Zippel, Amphibian Ark’s program director. Amphibians have been on the planet for 360 million years, but based on recent science, “This is the greatest extinction rate they’ve ever faced,” he said.

The first frog that a member of the public can name - for the right price - is from Ecuador, a member of the Osornophryne genus.

The frog was discovered in 1997, and there are no living members of the species in captivity, but whoever wins the online auction will be able to determine its species name. The profits raised will go to fund work to save frogs in Ecuador. Details on the other four frogs, and where the money will go to protect frogs, have not yet been released.

The hope is that auctioning off the naming rights could raise between $100,000 to $200,000 for each of the five frogs.

The estimate is based on prices paid in the past in separate efforts for the rights to name animals, like the $650,000 an Internet casino paid in 2005 to name a monkey species for the benefit of a national park in Bolivia. Its moniker? GoldenPalace.com.

“The potential to raise money to save these species outweighed any criticism we might get that we’re selling out,” said Zippel, speaking by telephone from Auburn, N.Y., where he lives.

A description of the new species will be published in a professional journal, and its scientific name will need to conform to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Zippel offered an example: If Donald Trump were a winning bidder of a frog from Rana genus, it wouldn’t be named “Rana Donald Trump,” but “Rana donaldtrumpi.”

The Internet naming contest at http://www.amphibianark.org/ is just one of many ways Amphibian Ark is trying to raise awareness about the plight of the frog. The group has dubbed 2008 the “Year of the Frog,” with zoos and other organizations around the world holding events to educate about the threats frogs are facing.

From one-third to one-half of the planet’s amphibian species are in danger of extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, pollution, over collection and disease, including a fatal fungus.

Scientists say they have to figure out a way to rid the environment of chytrid fungus or help frogs develop a resistance. The frogs can be cured with a fungicide, but they’ll be affected again upon re-entry.

Amphibian Ark wants 500 frogs from 500 species to be held in biosecure facilities around the world. Jeffrey Bonner, president of the Saint Louis Zoo and Amphibian Ark’s immediate past chair, called the effort “protective custody for frogs.”

Profits from the auction of the first frog will be donated to the lab of Dr. Luis Coloma in Ecuador for frog conservation work.

Researchers don’t know if they’ll be able to save the frog whose naming rights are being auctioned. That’s because they don’t know how many are still in the wild.

But, Zippel said, the funds will go to study how many of those frogs remain in the field and to help efforts to conserve it and other frogs in Ecuador.

Bonner called the online auction “just lovely.” He said, “It’s such a wonderful idea. I hope it works.” If $500,000 were raised, “we could save a lot of animals,” he said.

Amphibian Ark is a partnership between the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Conservation Union.

From London Daily Mail:

On the toad to ruin: Thousands of tiny amphibians dice with death to flee polluted river

Residents in China’s Jiangsu Province were hopping mad when thousands of little toads took to the streets. 

You could summarize this with a John Lennon lyric: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” From the Leicester Mercury:

NEWTS STOP DAD’S PLANS

A dad’s plans to transform his garden for his young son have been put on hold - after 35 newts were found living in his pond. Wildlife experts say they have to be sure none of the amphibians are of the rarest variety before they can allow any work to go ahead. Mohammed Sheikh, 36, wants to fill in the small pond at his home in Uppingham Road, in Leicester, to make it a safer area but he has been asked to wait until September - when the newt breeding season ends. By then, wildlife experts will have had time to make sure there are no protected great crested newts living in the garden. The problem came to light when Mr Sheikh’s friend, a landscape gardener, spotted the creatures when he was asked to redesign the plot. He warned Mr Sheikh that there could be great crested newts living in the pond and asked him to call in the experts. He said: “I didn’t think anything of it until I read in the Leicester Mercury that the Earl Shilton bypass may have to be delayed after that variety of newts was found. “I bought the house in October and at the moment I’m doing a renovation of the property. “I have a four-year-old son and I wanted to fill in the pond and make it a nice area for him to play in.” He contacted Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust and a conservation officer did a survey which found 35 smooth newts. Mr Sheikh said: “We have had neighbours who say they have seen great crested newts in their gardens so there is a possibility that they are in the area.” Neill Talbot, a senior conservation officer with Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, said it was unusual to find so many newts in a small garden pond. He said: “It took about half-an-hour to identify all the animals as the common variety, but I will do another survey in about three weeks. “It is quite rare for great crested newts to be found in Leicester and it may have been the case that they were passing through. “If they are found, then they can be relocated, but that requires a licence from Natural England.” Great crested newts are 15cm long and have wart-like markings across their bodies. They also have a large crest on their heads and a bright orange underbelly. The common or smooth newts are about half the size and, as their name suggests, have a smoother body. Mr Talbot said: “Mr Sheikh can landscape the garden but we would prefer if he waited until September when the newt breeding season ends. Newts gather in ponds in the spring and summer to breed, then leave.” In February, the Leicester Mercury revealed the discovery of great crested newts had hindered the progress of the Earl Shilton bypass and could send the cost of the project soaring.

Nice to see Mongabay write about the walking frog auction:

The Amphibian Ark, an initiative to save disappearing amphibians from extinction, will auction of the naming rights of a newly discovered ‘walking frog’ in Ecuador to raise money for local conservation efforts.

The naming rights for the frog, which belongs to the Osornophryne genus, will be sold at charitybuzz.com. The winning bidder’s selected name will be published in a scientific journal. Bidding ends May 31. 2008.

Auctioning off naming rights for species is increasingly used by conservation groups to raise money for protecting biodiversity. 

Walking frog. Courtesy of the Amphibian Ark

Walking frogs are known for having no tadpole stage. Instead froglets emerge directly out of eggs.

More than one-third the world’s amphibians are at risk due to habitat loss, the introduction of alien species, overexploitation as food and pets, pollution, climate change, and the outbreak of a deadly fungal disease.

Ever wonder how frogs that are born at the top of a rainforest canopy come down to earth? This video explains it all. They can parachute! The video comes from St. Mary’s College of Maryland of St. Mary’s City, Maryland. Rachel Clement studied “the parachuting behavior of Dendrobates pumilio, the strawberry poison dart frog,” a year ago in Panama’s Bocas del Toro province. According to Rachel’s research paper, which she shared with me:

“D. pumilio has never been documented parachuting until this study.  Dendrobates pumilio is mainly terrestrial, but female frogs must ascend and descend trees multiple times daily to deposit and care for their tadpoles in canopy bromeliads.”

This frog, as it turns out, has its babies in the treetops, and then the little guys and gals have to get down to earth to live the rest of their lives. It’s just that mom has to go up and down to care for them until their big leap.

“…when a metamorphosed froglet emerged from its bromeliad, it would hypothetically be able to parachute to the ground rather than making the arduous, energy-intensive crawl down a tree backwards as the first use of its new limbs. Since this study suggests that females may prove to be better parachuters than males upon further investigation, it is possible that parachuting is a ‘hardwired’ behavior practiced most often by females, who have reason to enter the canopy multiple times daily. It is possible that some males, in this case, would only parachute on their descent from the canopy as a froglet, and very seldom in later life.”

 (Rachel Clement photo)