An amphibious assault

LONDON

– The first images that come to mind may be unassuming brown newts or garden-variety green frogs, but amphibians cover a much grander spectrum.

Among about 6,000 species of frogs, salamanders and caecilians (legless animals, pronounced like “Sicilians”) are some of the world’s most bizarre animals: Giant Chinese salamanders, two metres in length; the “hairy frog” of Cameroon, which not only looks like it sports hair, but also can break its own bones to grow claws (an ability discovered just last month); the Surinam toad, which carries its eggs embedded in its back; and, even more macabre, the Sagalla caecilian, which feeds its own skin to its young.

Amphibians are also among the most colourful animals: The tiny, bright-yellow poison frog (with the spectacular scientific name Phyllobates terriblis) from Colombia, which is, gram for gram, the most poisonous vertebrate in the world; the black-dotted yellow frogs of Panama, which communicate with adorable hand waves; and the charismatic red-eyed tree frogs, aptly nicknamed “swimsuit calendar frogs.”

These make up just a small sample of the amazingly diverse amphibians, which have the longest history on earth. They predate all other terrestrial vertebrates.

But the first group of animals to colonize the land is also the first that humans are driving off it. Amphibians are disappearing faster than any other animals since the dinosaurs: 32 per cent of all species are threatened with extinction, compared with 23 per cent of mammals and 12 per cent of birds. Almost half are in decline.

The reasons are complex and vary among species. Some are hunted for the pet trade or, as with the Chinese salamander, for their meat. The destruction of habitat, as with all animals, is a major cause worldwide. Pollution also appears to be a big factor.

But one of the most worrisome and headline-grabbing causes is a strange fungus: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a.k.a. chytrid. Nobody quite knows how it kills amphibians - it may smother them, covering the skin they use to absorb oxygen and water, or it might release toxins. But biologists are unanimous in their belief that it is wiping out amphibians across the tropics, in the warm and wet conditions in which they thrive, from Australia to South America. Scientists believe that it is behind the disappearance of 74 species (out of an original 110) of harlequin frog in Central America and at least 10 species of Australian frogs.

Bob Johnson, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Toronto Zoo, saw one of the fungus’s first victims just before it vanished. The golden toad of Costa Rica was once so numerous that tourists would flock to witness their mating season. They were so dense on the forest floor, “we could barely walk, there were so many of them,” Mr. Johnson says of a trip he made in 1987. Just two years later, they had all disappeared, driven into extinction. “It was just astonishing.”

Now, Mr. Johnson is caring for one of the last populations of Panama golden frogs, the stars of the most recent David Attenborough BBC documentary, Life in Cold Blood. The frogs were all taken out of the wild before chytrid reached them too.

Humans may be responsible for the spread of the fungus: Scientists suspect that it came from its home in South Africa when clawed frogs were exported 50 years ago for use in pregnancy tests. (A dose of a pregnant woman’s urine causes a female clawed frog to lay eggs within eight to 12 hours. The test also works on male frogs, which produce sperm in response to the injection.)

African clawed frogs are mostly resilient to chytrid, and probably carried the fungus, but frogs elsewhere have little defence. It can wipe out a species in a matter of years.

Poster children

The reason for their vulnerability boils down to two things: They spend part of their lives in water and part on land, so they are exposed to factors in both environments; and their skin - not scaly like a reptile’s, but soft, thin and permeable - renders them more sensitive to things such as ultraviolet radiation, pesticides and disease.

As the most threatened group of animals on the planet, they are not just poster children for the biodiversity crisis, they are also harbingers of things to come. Because amphibians occupy a unique and crucial place in the food chain, their extinctions will ripple through the ecosystem and catalyze the rapid disappearance of other animals, large and small.

Their young - salamander larvae and frog tadpoles - are major bottom feeders. When they grow into adults and move onto land, they bring nutrients from the water with them.

“Usually water is a trap for biomass,” says McGill University zoologist David Green, one of Canada’s foremost authorities on amphibian declines. Things flow from land into water easily in rain, but amphibians, which move back onto land as adults, are one of the very few things in nature that move nutrients in the reverse direction, back onto land. “That’s a very important job,” Prof. Green says.

Moreover, as adults, they consume huge numbers of insects, then themselves are consumed in huge numbers by larger animals, such as birds and mammals. If we take these middlemen out of the food chain, the consequences could be disastrous. Insect populations could explode, while birds and mammals may disappear.

Yet, despite their importance, conservationists are struggling to raise the funds they need to save them.

“A charismatic bird or mammal will easily draw in money, but it is hard to get funding for amphibians,” says Helen Meredith, who is leading the Zoological Society of London’s EDGE amphibian-conservation program.

The London Zoo is caring for and breeding a number of spectacular amphibians, including the golden poison frog, and is sponsoring projects overseas for highly endangered amphibians such as the giant Chinese salamander (hunted for its meat in China, where it is considered a delicacy) and the spectacularly ugly purple frog of India, discovered just last year.

EDGE - meaning “evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered” - has found that 85 of the most distinctive and endangered 100 amphibian species are receiving little to no conservation attention. “Amphibians have been pushed into the shadows,” Ms. Meredith says.

“But in terms of conservation dollars, you can accomplish so much more than investing in any of the large ‘charismatic’ mammals,” says Kevin Zippel, director of Amphibian Ark, a branch of the World Conservation Union, which is supporting captive breeding programs.

Breeding amphibians is comparatively simple. They are small and fairly easy to take care of. “For just $50,000 to $100,000, you can save an entire amphibian species from extinction. Compare that to the amount it costs to rent one panda for a year from China: $1-million, and that doesn’t even include housing, food and staff.”

Amphibian Ark is trying to raise $50-million for the captive management of 500 species. “If each of the world’s largest zoos just took on one species each, we’d be done,” Mr. Zippel says.

“Though we aren’t saying that having these species in glass boxes is an acceptable form of conservation - it’s just an option for the future,” he adds.

Arks to tombs

But unless more effort is put into restoring their wild habitats, the “arks will only become tombs,” says ecologist Alan Pounds, who has been documenting the decline of golden toads and harlequin frogs in Central America since the 1980s. “We can’t save the world with captive breeding. We have always thought that if we have parks and reserves, then we can do what we want with the rest of the planet - and that is not true.”

He says the spread of chytrid in the mountains of Costa Rica is tied to global warming. His research, published in the journal Nature, indicates that the fungus causes more frog deaths in warmer years, when the hilltops - normally cool - become more hospitable to the fungus.

And it is happening not just in the mountains of Central America: Other researchers have tied the spread of the fungus in midwife toads in Spain to a warming climate.

But chytrid occurs in many places without being lethal. McGill’s Prof. Green has found it in about 13 per cent of amphibians from five Canadian provinces. “Canada would have to get warmer and wetter” for the fungus to become lethal, he says. “We may start to see that.”

Even if this doesn’t happen, frogs all over Canada are disappearing. Leopard frogs on the Prairies are vanishing, and nobody quite knows why. Fowler’s toads may be driven out of their only range, in Southern Ontario, where they are mowed over by beach grooming machines sent to remove cigarette butts. Chorus frogs in Quebec, along with their songs, are fading because of suburban development.

The precise causes can be hard to pin down, but many studies have implicated UV radiation, low doses of pesticides and agricultural pollution. Most ecologists believe that it is rarely one single factor that is responsible, but the combination of threats.

Ecologist Pieter Johnson at the University of Colorado published a landmark study in 2007 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) demonstrating that the combination of fertilizer runoff in ponds and the flatworm parasite Ribeiroia ondatrae may be responsible for the high prevalence of amphibian mutations that we see all over the United States and Canada (up to 70 per cent of frogs in some wetlands grow multiple arms and legs). High levels of fertilizers in ponds spawn blooms of algae, which in turn foster an explosion in snails which carry the parasites.

Many other studies have found such “synergistic effects.” Researchers from Oregon State University have shown that the combination of UV radiation and fertilizer pollution kills seven times more frogs than either alone.

Ecologist Rick Relyea at the University of Pittsburgh, who studies pesticides, reported in 2001 in the PNAS that subjecting tadpoles to the fear of a caged predator in their tank, combined with low levels of the pesticide carbaryl, caused grey tree frog tadpoles (found in Canada) to die when neither factor alone killed them. “Many people were shocked and amazed,” he says.

He has an upcoming paper in the journal Ecological Applications that will show that combinations of low doses of pesticides - non-lethal on their own - are “highly lethal.”

But Prof. Relyea cautions that we cannot be sure pesticides are causing frog declines in the wild - more research is needed. “The problem is that an awful lot of effort goes into assessing the benefits of these chemicals, but not the costs.” We just need to be smarter about how we use pesticides, he says, such as spraying them in minimal amounts and at times of year when amphibians are less vulnerable - for example, after the tadpoles have grown into frogs.

If pesticides are responsible for deaths in the wild, the impact could be more widespread than we realize. Ecologists from the University of Toronto reported last year that pesticides in the soils in Costa Rica were actually more concentrated higher up the mountains than lower down closer to plantations, carried aloft by breezes and deposited onto the mountaintops when mists form at high elevations.

Chemical cocktails

There is an important lesson to be learned here: Being so sensitive, amphibians are sending us a warning signal. For good reason, they are known as our canaries in the coal mine. “If we lose the amphibians, then we lose our best detection system to see what’s going on with the world,” EDGE’s Ms. Meredith says.

And not only that, we also lose “our tools for future drug production,” she says. Frogs harbour incredible cocktails of chemicals in their skin that are being investigated by medical researchers. The lethal poisons of arrow frogs may be harnessed for antibiotics, and seem to yield effective painkillers hundreds of times more powerful than morphine. The wood frog, widespread in Canada, can freeze solid and survive, and is being probed for clues to preserve frozen organs during transplant. Salamanders, which can regenerate their limbs, may some day help us to grow lost digits. And it was discovered just three years ago that certain red-eyed tree frogs produce a protein that can block HIV infection.

“On the back of some toad somewhere is the compound that will do wonders for you, but we don’t know which one it is yet,” Prof. Green says.

Already we have lost amphibian species to extinction that may have been able to help us. In the 1970s, scientists discovered a species of frog in Australia that gestated its eggs in its stomach, using special hormones to shut down its digestive system. It could have held the clues to treat ulcers, but it has not been seen in decades.

Before the 3,000 amphibians in decline suffer the same fate, is there anything we can do? When we are trying to fight the battle on so many fronts, is there any way to win the war?

We need to deal with every single issue at once: climate change, excessive use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, depletion of the ozone layer and, above all, habitat degradation.

But the case isn’t hopeless, Prof. Green says, as long as we take action now. “We have to give amphibians some credit,” he says. “They are not so vulnerable and fragile. It’s just the combination of factors that they cannot cope with. They are tough as boots if you give them a chance.”

Zoe Cormier is a science writer based in London.

HIGHLY ENDANGERED

Chinese giant salamander

The largest amphibian in the world. Has declined massively since the 1960s.

Primary threat is hunting. Considered a delicacy in China.

Chile’s Darwin frog

Carries young in mouth. May already be extinct.

Panama Golden Frog

No longer in the wild. Being bred at the Toronto and Vancouver zoos. Communicates with hand waves.

Olm

Blind. Lives in caves. May be able to live for more than 100 years and go without food for 10.

Purple frog

Just discovered in 2003. Critically endangered. Wonderfully ugly.

Golden poison frog

Most poisonous vertebrate on Earth.

***

WONDERFUL AND WEIRD

Hairy frog of Cameroon

Just spectacularly gross.

Pac man frog

Unlike any other amphibian, possesses teeth. Actually eats mice.

Australian red-eyed tree frog

One of many species of “red-eyed” tree frogs, or “swimsuit calendar frogs.” Produces protein in skin that can block HIV.

Surinam toad

Breeds young embedded in its back.

Betic midwife toad

Carries eggs around in a ball around its legs.

Zoe Cormier

From globeandmail.com

Princess admits to kissing a frog

Princess Victoria amused onlookers in Bohuslän in western Sweden on Friday by admitting to having kissed a frog to see if it would turn into a prince.

The princess was in Bohuslän to open a new wetlands area at Nordens ark.

As part of the opening ceremony the princess inaugurated a sculpture of a frog by the artist Pål Svensson. Svensson then presented a miniature of the sculpture to the princess and asked what would happen if a princess were to kiss a frog.

“It would remain only a frog, believe me, I’ve tried,” said the princess laughing.

Nordens ark is home to 42 animal species which are threatened with extinction. This figure will increase as work continues to save more endangered species.

Environmental debater Stefan Edman led the inauguration ceremony and used his speech to point out that frog has been around for 350 million years but has never been more in danger than at the present.

“Frogs live in hope every day. But of the 6,000 species at least a third are at risk of extinction, to a great extent due to the human being. We have to save the frog.” Edman said in his speech.

2008 has been declared the year of the frog.

From The Local

Bizarre frog can break its own bones to produce cat-like extendable claws

Biologists have described a bizarre, hairy frog, which in a gruesome process, actively breaks its own bones to produce cat-like extendable claws.

According to a report in New Scientist, the frog, known as Trichobatrachus robustus, has been described by David Blackburn and colleagues at Harvard Universitys Museum of Comparative Zoology.

The researchers believe that the gruesome behaviour of this frog is a defence mechanism, also observed in nine of the 11 frogs belonging to the Astylosternus genus, most of which live in Cameroon.

T. robustus actively breaks its own bones to produce claws that puncture their way out of the frogs toe pads, probably when it is threatened. This indicates that this gruesome behaviour might serve as a defence mechanism for the frog.

The claws of T. robustus, found on the hind feet only, are nestled inside a mass of connective tissue. A chunk of collagen forms a bond between the claws sharp point and a small piece of bone at the tip of the frogs toe.

The other end of the claw is connected to a muscle.

Blackburn and his colleagues believe that when the animal is attacked, it contracts this muscle, which pulls the claw downwards. The sharp point then breaks away from the bony tip and cuts through the toe pad, emerging on the underside.

The end result may look like a cats claw, but the breaking and cutting mechanism is very different and unique among vertebrates. Also unique is the fact that the claw is just bone and does not have an outer coating of like other claws do.

Because Blackburn has only studied dead specimens, he said that hes unaware what happens when the claw retracts or even how it retracts.

It does not appear to have a muscle to pull it back inside, so the team thinks it may passively slide back into the toe pad when its muscle relaxes.

Being amphibiansit would not be surprising if some parts of the wound heal and the tissue is regenerated, said Blackburn.

Some frogs grow spines on their thumbs during breeding season, but this is entirely different, said Ian Stephen, curator of herpetology at the Zoological Society of London, UK. For me, it highlights the need for a lot more research on amphibians especially in light of the threat of mass extinctionshe added.

From Thaindian news.

Transitional Frog Lays Eggs on Water and Land

When our distant ancestors were making their way out from the water, they had to evolve a way to lay their eggs on land.

Now a tree frog could help shed light on this mysterious, pivotal moment in history. This little yellow Panamanian amphibian is the first known vertebrate that can lay its eggs both in water and on land.

The researchers looked at the hourglass treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus), which is also known as the pantless treefrog because part of its leg lacks color. This amphibian typically lays its eggs on plants hanging over ponds. After tadpoles hatch, they simply fall into the water. Now Boston University scientists Justin Touchon and Karen Warkentin find these frogs can lay egg masses directly in or on ponds.

(”Treefrog” refers to the family Hylidae, of which this species is a member. “Tree frog” in general refers to any frog that lives in trees.)

Stinky  work

To see how these amphibians choose between laying their eggs in water or on land - and to understand the demands our distant ancestors might have faced to make this shift - the researchers investigated three ponds in Panama.

“It can be messy, dirty, stinky work,” said Touchon, a behavioral ecologist. “I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily hard work. But you do have to wade out waist deep into these hot tropical ponds, and the mud smells awful and decaying, and deal with mosquitoes and many other biting insects.”

Two of the ponds were covered by shade from trees, and the frogs laid their eggs on the vegetation above the water. In a third pond in an old gravel quarry without a forest canopy, the vast majority of the eggs - about three-quarters - were laid in water, supported by aquatic vegetation. The other roughly one-quarter of the eggs were laid on leaves above the pond, although the mortality rate of these eggs was high due to the heat and lack of shade.

“We were in the right place at the right time to make this discovery,” Touchon recalled. “We were wading into the middle of the quarry pond at night looking for frogs - there are at least 10 different species of frog there out and calling on any given night - and we happened upon a pair that was laying its eggs in the water.”

Environment rules

To see if genetic differences made frogs lay eggs in water or on land, the researchers built miniature ponds in an open field and in the forest. Their findings showed that environment and not genetics was key here. Frogs placed in the shaded ponds laid their eggs above the water, and ones in unshaded ponds deposited eggs in the water.

Although humans did not evolve from frogs, our evolution does go back to other, albeit long extinct amphibians. Our remote ancestors might have evolved reproduction on land to escape aquatic predators or to cope with alterations in the environment just as these treefrogs do, improving their chances of surviving changes in habitat or climate.

“Hopefully understanding what drove the evolution of reproduction on land will give clues to what led the movement out of the water in general by all animals,” Touchon told LiveScience.

It turns out the eggs of these frogs are not ideally suited for either land or water. Eggs in the water have the challenge of getting enough oxygen, while eggs on land risk drying out, among other things. “They’re not as good at surviving on land or in the water as eggs specialized for either, but they can do both,” Touchon noted.

The most surprising thing about this discovery of an animal that can lay eggs both aquatically and terrestrially “is that nobody has actually seen something like this before,” Touchon said. “Terrestrial egg-laying has evolved many times in frogs, so there might be multiple transitional species capable of both aquatic and terrestrial breeding. It was probably because no one had thought to look for such transitional species before - until now, it was always thought frogs were either aquatic or terrestrial breeding.”

Evolution key

Knowing about these frogs gives researchers “the first opportunity to test the different ideas regarding the evolution of terrestrial breeding,” Touchon explained. “We could conduct experiments manipulating the aquatic environments or the terrestrial environments and see how that affects the survival of eggs in either environment - change the predators, for instance, or the humidity.”

And while this frog is the first vertebrate known that can lay its eggs both in water and on land, the researchers emphasize that it is probably not alone. The researchers plan to investigate closely related frogs. It may turn out this might not be limited to amphibians - quite a few fish are known to lay their eggs outside of the water, and it’s very possible that some of those species can lay both in and out of water as well, Touchon said.

Discovering other animals capable of both aquatic and terrestrial breeding is important “because terrestrial breeding has evolved so many times, it will be interesting to see if the same factors were involved, or perhaps different ones, to hopefully turn up more pieces of the puzzle,” Touchon said.

Touchon and Warkentin detailed their findings online May 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their research was funded by the National Science Foundation, Boston University, the Smithsonian Institution and The Animal Behavior Society, and supported by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

From redOrbit

Amphibian Ark Announces ”Walking Frog” Naming Auction

Highest Bidder Wins Exclusive Naming Rights to Frog Species from Ecuador

ST. LOUIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Amphibian Ark, a global conservation organization formed in an effort to help save the world’s amphibians from mass extinction, is announcing its first frog naming rights auction, beginning immediately. The highest bid made on www.CharityBuzz.com will win the naming rights to a newly discovered species in the genus Osornophryne, an endangered “walking frog” indigenous to the remote Andes Mountains in Ecuador.

From one-third to one-half of the planet’s 6,000 amphibian species – frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, and caecilians – are in danger of extinction and the walking frog is no exception. The causes for these declines and extinctions come in different forms, including habitat loss, climate change, emerging diseases, pollution, and over-collection for food and pets.

“After thriving for 360 million years, frogs are in harm’s way,” said Jean-Michel Cousteau, supporter of Amphibian Ark and founder of the Oceans Future Society. “Because amphibians are the first to feel the effects of environmental stressors that could ultimately harm humans, the time to act is now.”

Walking frogs are known for having no tadpoles; instead hatched eggs release froglets. And, instead of jumping, they walk slowly along the forests of the Andes.

The winning bidder’s selected name will be published in a scientific journal. Arrangements can also be made to tour the conservation facilities in Ecuador that will protect the species, and see other endangered amphibians in their natural habitat.

The proceeds will be used by Amphibian Ark partners in Ecuador to save some of the country’s most endangered amphibian species – including the new, walking frog. The auction is being conducted by CharityBuzz.

Auctioning off naming rights for species is a growing tactic by wildlife protection organizations to raise the funds necessary to protect our planet’s biodiversity. Recent auctions have allowed philanthropists to name butterflies, monkeys, and fish.

“We are very proud to be working with Amphibian Ark in their incredibly worthy project to help raise money to protect endangered amphibians,” said Coppy Holzman, CEO of CharityBuzz.com. “Based on our prior species naming experience, we fully expect this series of frog naming auctions to be very successful and encourage everyone to visit the site and aid this worthy cause.”

In order to make a bid or learn more about Amphibian Ark and the new walking frog species, please visit http://www.charitybuzz.com/area.do?id=773.

Amphibian Ark is a partnership between the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, and IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. It was formed to develop, promote, and guide short term captive management of threatened amphibians, making possible the long-term survival of species for which adequate protection in the wild is not currently possible. For additional information about Amphibian Ark please visit www.amphibianark.org.

Species extinction poses threat to medical science

As species decline, huge losses to medical science may follow suit.

A NEW generation of antibiotics, new treatments for thinning bone disease and kidney failure, and new cancer treatments may all stand to be lost unless the world acts to reverse the present alarming rate of biodiversity loss, a new landmark book says.

The natural world holds secrets to the development of new kinds of safer and more powerful painkillers; treatments for a leading cause of blindness – macular degeneration – and possibly ways of re-growing lost tissues and organs by, for example studying newts and salamanders.

But, the experts warn that we may lose many of the land and marine-based life forms of economic and medical interest before we can learn their secrets, or, in some cases, before we know they exist.

The new book, Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity, is the most comprehensive treatment of this subject to date and fills a major gap in the arguments made to conserve nature. While many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of biodiversity loss, Sustaining Life examines the full range of potential threats that this loss poses to human health.

A particularly illustrative example, highlighted by the book’s authors, of what may be lost with species extinctions can be found in the southern gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus) which was discovered in undisturbed rainforests of Australia in the 80s. The frogs raise their young in the female’s stomach where they would, in other animals, be digested by enzymes and acid.

Preliminary studies indicated that the baby frogs produced a substance, or perhaps a variety of substances, that inhibited acid and enzyme secretions and prevented the mother from emptying her stomach into her intestines while the young were developing.

The authors point out that the research on gastric brooding frogs could have led to new insights into preventing and treating human peptic ulcers which affect some 25 million people in the United States alone.

“But these studies could not be continued because both species of Rheobactrachus became extinct, and the valuable medical secrets they held are now gone forever,” say Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, the key authors of the book based at the Centre for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School.

Sustaining Life is the work of more than 100 experts and published by Oxford University Press. At the heart of the book is a chapter dedicated to exploring seven threatened groups of organisms valuable to medicine, including amphibians, bears, cone snails, sharks, nonhuman primates, gymnosperms, and horseshoe crabs that underscore what may be lost to human health when species go extinct.

These losses include: promising new avenues of medical research and new treatments, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic tests.

 A giant leaf-tailed gecko from Montagne d’Anjanaharibe, Madagascar.

“The Earth’s biodiversity, much of which has yet to be discovered, provides a unique opportunity to improve not only the health of current but also that of future generations. However as species are lost so too are our options for future discovery and advancement. Thus Sustaining Life provides poignant evidence that biodiversity loss is not merely an environmental issue but one which affects us on a very basic, fundamental and personal level,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, United Nations assistant secretary-general and executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Experts, including the authors, emphasise that the book’s conclusions should not be construed as a licence to harvest wildlife in a way that puts further pressure on already threatened, vulnerable and endangered species. Instead they should be a spur for even greater conservation and improved management of species and the ecosystems they inhabit.

Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist at IUCN-World Conservation Union and a co-author of the book, said: “While extinction is alarming in its own right, this book demonstrates that many species can help save human lives. If we needed more justification for action to conserve species, this book offers dozens of dramatic examples of both why and how citizens can act in ways that will conserve, rather than destroy, the species that enrich our lives.” – United Nations Environment Programme

Amphibians

The class Amphibians is made up of frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians – little known legless organisms that resemble giant earthworms. Nearly one third of the approximately 6,000 known amphibian species are threatened with extinction. These animals produce a wide range of novel substances, some of which are made only by amphibians living in the wild, not by those in captivity.

 A blue poison dart fron from northern South America. One third of 6,000 known amphibian species are threatened by extinction.

These include:

 

• Pumiliotoxins, like those made by the Panamanian poison frog that may lead to medicines that strengthen the contractions of the heart and thus prove useful in treating heart disease.

 

 

• Alkaloids made by species like the Ecuadorian poison frog, which could be the source of a new and novel generation of painkillers.

 

 

• Antibacterial compounds produced in the skin of frogs and toads such as the African clawed frog and South and Central American leaf frogs.

 

 

• Bradykinins and maximakinins, made in the skin glands of species like the Chinese large-webbed bell toad; Mexican leaf frog, and North American pickerel frog that dilate the smooth muscle of blood vessels in mammals and therefore offer promising avenues for treating high blood pressure.

 

 

• Frog glue, produced by species such as the Australian frog, could lead to natural adhesives for repairing cartilage and other tissue tears in humans.

 

 

• Many species of newts and salamanders, such as the Eastern spotted newt, can regrow tissues such as heart muscle, nerve tissue in the spinal cord and even whole organs.

 

 

• As we are in evolutionary terms relatively closely related to these species, they are vital models for understanding how we might someday harness our own dormant regenerative potential.

 

 

• Some frogs, such as the grey tree frog and the chorus frog can survive long periods of freezing without suffering cell damage – understanding how these frogs do this may yield key insights into how we might better preserve scarce organs needed for transplant.

 

Bears

 A brown bear and her cubs. Bears are hunted for their paws and gall bladders.

Nine species of bear are threatened with extinction including the polar bear, the giant panda, and the Asiatic black bear. The threats to bears are similar to those amphibians face, but in addition many bears are at risk because they are killed for body parts, such as gall bladders, which can command high prices in black markets in places like China, Japan and Thailand.

Several medical benefits have already arisen from the study of bears, including the development of ursodeoxycholic acid, found in the gall bladders of some bear species such as polar and black bears, into a medicine.

The substance is used to prevent the build up of bile during pregnancy; dissolve certain kinds of gallstones; and prolong the life of patients with a specific kind of liver disease, known as primary biliary cirrhosis, giving them more time to find a liver transplant.

Some bear species, known as “denning” bears because they enter into a largely dormant state when food is scarce, are of tremendous value to medicine as they are able to recycle a wide variety of their body’s substances.

Unlike people, who if “bed-ridden” for a five-month period can lose up to a third of their bone mass, bears actually lay down new bone during the denning period. Bears appear to produce a substance that inhibits cells that break down bone and promote substances that encourage bone and cartilage-making cells. Denning bears can survive for a period of five months or more without excreting their urinary wastes, whereas humans would die from the build up of these toxic substances after only a few days. An estimated 1.5 million people worldwide are receiving treatment for end-stage renal disease. By studying denning bears, we may be able to learn how to treat them more effectively and help large numbers to survive. Denning bears may also hold clues to treating Type 1 and Type II diabetes as well as obesity. When produced in a non-invasive and ethically acceptable way, without pushing already threatened species further towards extinction, these substances are of great value to medicine.

Gymnosperms

Close to 1,000 species of Gymnosperms have been identified, including pines and spruces. Evolutionary, they are among the oldest of any plants alive but many groups, such as the cycads, are classified as endangered.

Several pharmaceuticals, including decongestants and the anti-cancer drug taxol, have already been isolated from gymnosperms. The researchers believe many more are yet to be discovered and may be lost if species of Gymnosperms become extinct.

Substances from one Gymnosperm, the ginkgo tree may reduce the production of receptors in the human nervous system linked with memory loss. Thus they may play a role in countering Alzheimer’s disease.

They may also help in the treatment of epilepsy and depression.

Cone snails

Around 700 species make up the cone snails, seven of which were identified only since 2004. While only four are now classified as vulnerable, no thorough assessment has been made in over 10 years; so current listings may under-estimate the true number of endangered cone snail species. For example, almost 70% of some 380 cone snail species surveyed had more than half their geographic range within areas where coral reefs, their main habitats, are threatened.

Cone snail species may produce as many as 70,000 to 140,000 peptide compounds, large numbers of which may have value as human medicines, yet only a few hundred have been characterised.

One compound, known as ziconotide, is thought to be 1,000 times more potent than morphine and has been shown in clinical trials to provide significant pain relief for advanced cancer and AIDS patients. Another cone snail compound has been shown in animal models to protect brain cells from death during times of inadequate blood flow.

It could prove a breakthrough therapy for people suffering head injuries and strokes and may even contribute to therapy for patients with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Other potential developments from cone snail peptides include treatments for urinary incontinence and cardiac arrhythmias.

Sharks

There are at least 400 species of sharks, which, as a group, evolved in ancient seas 400 to 450 million years ago. Many species are now threatened, with some species, such as the scalloped hammerhead, white shark and thresher shark, falling in numbers by as much as 75% over the past 15 years.

Over-fishing has been the main reason for the losses, and has been driven by: an increased demand for shark meat as a substitute for traditional commercial fish catches in foods like fish and chips; the rise in consumption of shark fin soup; increases in by-catch, for example, in tuna fisheries; and an increased market for shark cartilage products for a variety of unproved medical purposes.

Squalamine, a substance isolated from sharks such as dogfish, especially abundant in their livers, may lead to a new generation of antibiotics as well as treatments against fungal and protozoan infections. Studies are also being undertaken with squalamine compounds as possible anti-tumour and appetitesuppressant substances.

Trials are now also underway to see if squalamine can treat age-related macular degeneration which can lead to severe vision loss. The shark substance may halt the growth of new blood cells in the retina, which is linked to a loss of retinal function and blindness in these patients.

The salt glands of some sharks are also being studied to gain insight into how the human kidney functions and how chloride ions are transported across membranes, which may shed light on two diseases – cystic fibrosis and polycystic kidney disease.

Sharks, having evolved as some of the first creatures with a fully functioning “adaptive” immune system are irreplaceable models to help us understand human immunity. What potential these creatures may still hold to further our knowledge of immunity is being rapidly depleted with the mass slaughter of sharks and the endangerment of sharks worldwide.

Horseshoe crabs

There are four species of horseshoe crabs, with each organism possessing four eyes and six other light-detecting organs as well as blood that turns cobalt blue when exposed to the air. Because only around 10 offspring survive out of the estimated 90,000 eggs produced by a female, they are highly sensitive to over-fishing.

Once harvested and processed to be used as fertiliser, they are now used as bait for eel and whelk fisheries. Horseshoe crabs are also important in the food chain, especially for birds like the red knott, which rely upon the eggs for fuel over their 16,000km migratory journey Horseshoe crabs also have tremendous value to medicine. Several classes of peptides have been isolated from the creatures’ blood that appear to kill a wide range of bacteria.

Another peptide from the horseshoe crab has been developed into a compound known as T140 which locks onto the receptor in humans that allows the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to gain access into the body’s immune cells. Pre-clinical trails indicate that the substance is at least as effective as the drug AZT at inhibiting the replication of HIV.

T140 has also shown promise in preventing the spread of certain cancers such as leukaemia, prostate cancer and breast cancer, and as a possible treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Other cells in the blood of horseshoe crabs can, for example, detect the presence of key bacteria in the spinal fluid of people suspected of having cerebral meningitis.

From The Star

Amphibian Ark: 5 for Frogs..

AMPHIBIAN ARK JUMP STARTS RESCUE WITH 5 FOR FROGS 

 

Five month campaign to raise $500,000 and save five species of frogs

 

 

 

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, USA ( May 1, 2008 )

 

 

 

 

 

Amphibian Ark, a global conservation organization created to raise awareness and rally fundraising to protect endangered amphibian species, announced today the commencement of its 5 for Frogs campaign. 5 for Frogs is a grassroots crusade with the goal of raising $500,000 to save five endangered species in five months.

The ”pay it forward” spirit behind 5 for Frogs asks kids and adults to do something to help frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians through acts of kindness involving the number 5. It could be as simple as someone telling or emailing five people about the looming mass extinction of amphibians. Or, it could be holding a charity car wash or selling cookies to raise $5, $50, or even $500 for Amphibian Ark to allocate to rescue projects. If thousands get involved, each can play a part in saving five or more species from extinction. Fifty ideas for getting involved in 5 for Frogs are listed on the Amphibian Ark Web site at www.amphibianark.org.

The May kickoff of 5 for Frogs starts with a U.S. national FrogWatch on May 3 involving hundreds of students who will monitor the environmental health status of amphibians in their communities through a cooperative effort organized by the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) and the National Wildlife Federation. FrogWatch is a volunteer-based program that encourages everyone to help by getting outdoors and monitoring local wetlands for breeding frogs and toads.

“Not since the disappearance of the dinosaurs have we seen an extinction of this magnitude,” said Jean-Michele Cousteau, supporter of Amphibian Ark and founder of the Oceans Future Society.

“Because amphibians are the first to feel the effects of environmental stressors that could ultimately harm humans, and they play a critical role in our ecosystem, the time to act is now.”

In addition to the grassroots activities, 5 for Frogs will feature several global, special events throughout the summer. Five species of amphibians that have not yet been given common names will have their naming rights auctioned, with proceeds earmarked for Amphibian Ark. And, an endangered Mexican species, the Large-crested toad, will receive special visibility on Cinco de Mayo, celebrated, of course, on the fifth day of the fifth month.

 

5 for Frogs

Add One

 

“The Year 2008 has been dubbed The Year of the Frogs by conservationists from around the world to highlight the amphibian crisis and to save the most endangered species from extinction. As a result, the 5 for Frogs campaign could not come at a better time in an attempt to channel these efforts.”

Amphibian Ark is a partnership between the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, and IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. It was formed to develop, promote, and guide short term captive management of threatened amphibians, making possible the long-term survival of species for which adequate protection in the wild is not currently possible. To learn more about Amphibian Ark, the 5 for Frogs campaign, and to review 50 inspirational and creative ways to raise funds for amphibians, please visit www.amphibianark.org

 

A couple of good links related to this project.

5 for frogs fact sheet.

50 ways to save amphibians.

 

OUTDOORS: Snake are important members of the community

Not all encounters with wildlife are pleasant for hunters and anglers. They get stung by yellow jackets, munched on by mosquitoes, bitten by ticks and occasionally attacked by large predators like cougars, grizzly bears and sharks.

But most save a special dose of fear and loathing for snakes, particularly in spring when snakes are more active at the times people are in the woods or on the water. Stephen Secor, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama, believes there’s no real reason for that.

‘Snakes don’t want to be found,’ Secor said. ‘People undoubtedly walk by snakes they never see. A person walks by and they’re not going to do anything. To them, a person is a predator and they want to remain camouflaged.’

That reveals pretty good common sense in snakes. Most snakes that bite people die because the person bitten or someone with them usually shoots or clubs it immediately.

On the other hand, few people bitten by snakes die. Health statistics indicate about 7,000 to 8,000 people a year suffer snake bites. That’s a pretty small number considering the millions of hunters, hikers, anglers, farmers, foresters and loggers who slog around in prime snake habitat every day.

A large percentage of those bitten were handling or harassing the snake when bitten. And only about 15 people die from snake bites annually.

It may be their secretive nature that gives the reptiles their bad reputation. For people who aren’t handling a snake, the bite comes as a complete surprise. They view the snake as the aggressor since they meant it no harm.

But snakes bite as a last ditch defense mechanism, Secor said.

‘These are extremely docile animals,’ Secor said.

‘People don’t think about snakes being docile animals. For an animal in the wild that could potentially do harm to you very few ever do.’

Snakes tolerate human handling better than most wild creatures. An experienced person can frequently pick up and handle a completely wild snake without it reacting in alarm.

‘Go out there and grab a squirrel and see what he does to you,’ Secor chuckled.

Secor doesn’t advocate untrained people picking up snakes; in fact, he discourages it. That’s because some can do humans harm. But he notes that there’s no such thing as a ‘poisonous’ snake.

‘They’re not poisonous,’ Secor said. ‘They are venomous. A mushroom is poisonous. Something that is venomous has a delivery system that injects something into you.’

It may sound like a small distinction to someone who fears snake bite. But Secor believes it’s only the beginning of the lack of understanding most people have of snakes.

‘If you see one, all you have to do is back up a couple of feet,’ Secor said. ‘They can’t come after you. They’re heavy-bodied snakes and can’t move very fast. They can’t strike very far.’

West Alabama has three types of venomous snakes and all three belong to a grouping known as pit vipers. Copperheads, cottonmouth water moccasins and timber rattlesnakes or canebrake rattlers inhabit the region.

Of the three, timber rattler bites are the most dangerous to humans because of the snake’s size and the toxicity of the venom. The snake’s size is relevant because it governs how much venom the snake can inject. Copperhead bites are the least dangerous to humans with water moccasin bites falling in between.

All three have similar venom. It is a mixture of enzymes which destroys tissue, Secor said. When a human is bitten, the tissue around the bite can die. The body’s reaction to the venom is swelling, which can be painful.

About half of all bites are ‘dry bites’ in which the snake injects no venom. And Secor recommends against field treatment, particularly cutting the wound. Victims should head for the hospital.

A good pair of boots is probably the best defense against snake bite, he said.

‘They’re not going to have the power to penetrate through a leather boot, except maybe in a weak spot or a seam,’ he said.

Defensive bites are not meant to penetrate deeply, Secor said. When a snake bites prey, it wants to sink its teeth in, hold on and inject venom. When it’s defending itself, the snake wants to withdraw its teeth quickly and prepare to strike again.

Copperheads are the most common and live in woodlands and scrub, Secor said. They are generally small snakes of two feet or less with a colorful skin pattern that provides excellent camouflage in the woods.

Copperheads become active during the day at this time of year as things are warming up. During the heat of summer, they reserve most of their activity for night.

Feeding on small rodents like mice and chipmunks, copperheads lay in wait to ambush their prey, Secor said.

‘They’re very well camouflaged in that dead leaf litter,’ Secor said. ‘That matches up very well with the markings on them.’

There is little people can do to avoid copperheads since their location in the woods would appear random to people. But they are usually staking out rodent trails that they’ve scented with their tongues.

All people can do is use common sense precautions like watching where they step. Secor said copperheads aren’t very aggressive.

‘I bet many have been stepped on without even responding,’ he said.

Water moccasins are found wherever there is woody cover along the bank of a body of water. While moccasins are snakes found in water, not all snakes found in water are moccasins. A variety of non-venomous water snakes live in this area and virtually all of the snakes found in water without surrounding woody cover, such as catfish and farm ponds, are not moccasins, Secor said.

Unlike water snakes, which live almost exclusively on fish and amphibians, Moccasins will eat just about anything they can swallow, including rodents, birds and other snakes.

Their color, ranging from almost bronze to very dark, varies with age and the region where they live, Secor said. They typically swim with more of their body out of the water than a water snake.

Anglers are sometimes alarmed by moccasins swimming toward their boats. Secor said that isn’t an attempt to attack people. The snake sees the boat as a piece of dry land it can crawl up on.

Again, common sense will help avoid bites from cottonmouths. Secor recommends against stepping into or reaching into areas in wooded cover around water without looking first.

Timber rattlers are found in much the same habitat as copperheads, preferring hilly woodlands. They’re frequently found on hillsides with southern exposure because they warm up faster.

Timber rattlers have a huge range, stretching from New England to Florida. The largest ever recorded was 6 feet, two inches but most never exceed five feet in length.

Feeding on larger rodents, squirrels and even rabbits, timber rattlers also lie in ambush for their prey, Secor said. Their distinctive rattling serves as a warning that should help people avoid bites. But like copperheads, their location may appear random to people.

Timber rattlers have a habit few people are aware of, Secor said. They climb up to 20 feet up into trees, which could provide a hunter climbing into a tree stand with an unpleasant surprise.

Secor argues against killing snakes, even the venomous varieties.

‘These are one of the master controllers of the rodent population,’ Secor said. ‘They’re part of the ecosystem. They’re important members of the community.’

From Toscaloosa news.

As You Know It’s “The Year Of The Frog.”

And As Part Of Our Continued Attempt To Raise Money To Help

It’s Time For Our Decorative Items Sale.

Decorative Items like: Herp Figurines, Copper Snake, Lizard or Turtle Light Light Switch Plates, One Of A Kind Netsuke Sculpture From Japan Of Snakes, Turtles and Frogs, Frog Napkin Holders, Decorative Frog or Turtle Ceramic Tiles You Can Display Or Use As A Trivet, Decorative Frog Picture Frames, Turtle, Frog, Even Flying Dragon Lizard Trinket Boxes, Items From All Over The World—And Of Course More.

So - From Friday April 18th thru Sunday, April 21st

PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THE DECORATIVE ITEMS DEPARTMENT
AT WWW.HERPARTS.COM (REMEMBER IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE OF A FROG)

10% OF THE PRODUCT’S PRICE GOES TO THE AMPIHBIAN SPECIALIST GROUP

And remember Mother’s Day is around the corner. If you are a mom buy yourself a gift.

Keep in mind a lot of these items are one of a kind.

On behalf of the frogs: rabbit, ribbbit, croak, ribbit. (Thank you for your support.)

Some of the products..

 

 

 

Scientists find first lungless frog

Researchers working in Borneo have discovered the only known frog with no lungs, the team reported Monday.

National University of Singapore biologist David Bickford, the lead researcher, said in a release that the frog, Barbourula kalimantanensis, has an “amazing ability to breathe entirely through its skin.”

The tiny frog, measuring less than 40 mm and weighing 6.5 grams, was found in western Kalimantan, Indonesia, in August by researchers employing new search methods. 

It lives in cold, rushing water and is so rare that the only previous evidence of the species was reported 30 years ago.

The researchers said the frog receives all necessary oxygen through its skin. Among four-legged creatures, only amphibians are known to breathe without lungs — previously only in two families of salamanders and a species of caecillian, a limbless amphibian.

Bickford said it was a “shock” to discover that the species did not have lungs.

“When we did [find the frog] and I was doing the initial dissections — right there in the field — I have to say that I was very skeptical at first,” Bickford said in a release. “It just did not seem possible. We were all shocked when it turned out to be true.”

The researchers hypothesized that the frog may have evolved without lungs, or lost its lungs, in adaptation to the high-oxygen environment of its habitat and the species’ preference to sink, rather than float, which would have been hindered by lungs full of oxygen.

They noted that deforestation and illegal gold mining in the area is threatening both the species and further research into its reproduction, feeding and life. Further studies “may be hampered by the species’ rarity and endangerment. We strongly encourage conservation of remaining habitats of this species,” they said.

The researchers said they tried to be as non-invasive as possible, dissecting only four specimens completely and four partially to confirm the lack of lungs.

The findings are published in the April 8 edition of the journal Current Biology.

From CBC