08/27/09

Frog Summit in London: The Amphibian Survival Alliance

The BBC News reported today that conservationists have launched a new initiative at the Zoological Society of London called the Amphibian Survival Alliance to safeguard the world’s amphibians from extinction. According to the article, the Alliance will be composed of amphibian experts from around the world, including specialists from the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The group will coordinate existing projects, scientific research, and fund-raising.

Tackling the devastating chytrid fungus is the alliance’s first priority. Identified only a decade ago, the fungus now infects amphibians in the Americas, Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The group will investigate anti-fungal drugs to combat the deadly disease and explore resistance to the disease in captive-bred populations and in the wild. Protecting amphibian habitats is the group’s next priority.

The alliance will also focus on these other important issues:

  • unsustainable hunting for food, medicine, and the pet trade
  • chemical pollution
  • climate change
  • introduced species
  • other infectious disease

They hope to raise the profile of amphibians in 2010, which has been designated at the International Year of Biodiversity. Hmmm, perhaps we should tell them about FROGS ARE GREEN?

The organization does not yet have a website, but I will update this post when they are on the web.

Photo by Carey James Balboa, near Playa Jaco in Costa Rica

Photo by Carey James Balboa, near Playa Jaco in Costa Rica

05/25/09

Be a FrogWatcher this summer!

This summer, consider becoming a FrogWatch USA volunteer, a Citizen Science Monitoring Program sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation. Participating in this program gives YOU the opportunity to help frogs and toads by collecting information essential for protecting them.

The FrogWatch site has a map of the US that lists local frog species. It also contains information about ordering CDs with frog calls from your region, lists of books to help you identify frog species, and all you need to know to become a successful Frog Watcher. If you’ve always wanted to do animal conservation fieldwork, here’s your chance to do it in your own neighborhood—maybe even your own backyard!

This summer I’ve been doing some informal Frog Watching with my family. We counted 17 small toads on one hike in the Norvin Green State Forest in New Jersey. We also went on a hike in Minnewaska State Park near New Paltz, New York, last weekend. At the nature center there, I picked up a pamphlet about frogs and toads of New York, where I learned that the hearty trilling I heard up in a pine tree wasn’t an invisible bird. It was a tiny Grey Tree Frog with a big voice! We also saw lots of tadpoles in a pond in various stages of metamorphosis.

Wherever you are this summer, keep an eye out for the amphibians!

Gray treefrog clinging to clover. Photographed by Lisa Miller at her home in northeastern Wisconsin. Courtesy of savethefrogs.com

Gray treefrog clinging to clover. Photographed by Lisa Miller at her home in northeastern Wisconsin. Courtesy of www.savethefrogs.com