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It's not easy being green these days
A dwindling frog population points to environmental damage worldwide
By Jessica Lyons
While the Fasano hoppers are jumping into the pages of Sports Illustrated, frogs worldwide are croaking in startling numbers.
Over every part of the globe, frogs--and other amphibians, including toads and salamanders--that have been around for millions of years are disappearing and failing to reproduce. Some, like the golden toad in Costa Rica, are completely extinct. Others are being found with strange deformities, such as extra or missing limbs.
Several environmental factors are to blame for the global amphibian crisis, scientists say, including ozone-layer depletion, pollution and pesticides. Logging forests and draining wetlands also have a major effect. "The biggest problem is habitat loss and fragmentation," says Monique Gilbert, a water resource analyst for the National Wildlife Federation. "Frogs are losing their wetlands. Their habitats are becoming fragmented. Where they used to cross from one pond to another, now there's a parking lot."
Besides destroying froggy habitats, global crises such as ultraviolet radiation and acid rain damage frogs' immune systems, making them more susceptible to diseases such as chytrid fungus, Gilbert says.
As frogs jump into oblivion it's a warning for humans, too. "I think it's a huge wake-up call for humans, because these creatures have been on earth for millions of years, surviving even the dinosaurs," Gilbert says. "If they can't live here anymore, it's definitely telling us something. Our ecosystem is so out of balance that frogs can't survive anymore--and they've been through a lot. This is a strong indicator of when things are going wrong in the environment."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
