April 22, 2011 marks the 41st celebration of Earth Day!
We’d also like to point you toward our contest page. We just started receiving entries for our 2011 Kids’ art contest and the 2011 photo contest. So check out the rules and be sure to enter as many times as you’d like throughout the Summer.
Happy Earth Day everyone!
Susan and Mary Jo
While you may read lots of Earth Day posts this spring that talk about about ways you can help the Earth, we’d like to remind you about the ways that enjoying the Earth can help you.
Most of us know that a walk in a garden or a hike in the woods makes us feel better. Until recently, however, there has been little scientific evidence for the psychological benefits of enjoying nature. But recent studies that have shown that the calming effect of being in nature can reduce stress and blood pressure, and even cholesterol levels.
photo by M.J. Rhodes
While exercise of all kinds is important for good health, studies have shown that a walk outside in nature (as opposed to a walk in a mall) decreases levels of depression; people said they felt less tense and over 90 percent reported increased self-esteem after walking outside. “Green exercise” is beginning to be considered a clinically valid treatment option for people experiencing mental distress.
Another study by psychologists at Essex University, in the United Kingdom, has shown that just a small dose of nature every day, or several times a week, can definitely improve people’s self-esteem, lift their mood, and reduce mental health stresses. Even five minutes of “green exercise” produced measurable results in the study’s participants.
What Green Can Do for Kids
Dr. Frances Kuo, director of the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has done numerous studies on the effects of nature on kids. In one study involving parents of children diagnosed with ADHD, Dr. Kuo found a significant relationship between the parents’ ratings of their children’s symptoms, and the play setting — in a green play environment, the children were able to function better.
Journalist Richard Louv believes that children today are suffering from “nature deficit disorder.” His book Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder sparked a national debate and led to a movement to reconnect kids and nature. He argues that today’s kids are suffering both physically and emotionally because they don’t spend enough time outside.
photo coutesy of mariposachamber.org
Sounds of Green
Recently my family and I have escaped from the city for some spring walks in public gardens, in the woods, and in a swamp or two. What we enjoyed most was the absence of human-made sounds—cars, pneumatic drills, loud music, TV—and the presence of natural sounds: leaves rustling, geese honking, crows cawing. I even heard spring peepers and a wood frog. After a long and cold winter, when all of us in the northeast suffered from cabin fever, it calmed and refreshed us—definitely what the doctor ordered.
photo by M.J. Rhodes
As Dr. Mardie Townsend, an associate professor in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, has said, “Having access to appealing natural environments encourages physical activity, which has obvious benefits. We gain life by looking at life.”
Further reading:
Walking in the Park Contributes to Happiness by Sue Cartledge
Mental Health Benefits from Nature by Sue Cartledge
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.
—Albert Einstein*
Courtesy of Maine Department of Agriculture
Did you know that honey bees are vanishing worldwide? Like frogs, they are being decimated by disease. While frogs are dying because of a fungus, bees are dying from a fungus combined with a virus.
Bees are responsible for pollinating 90 percent of the world’s commercial plants, from fruits and vegetables to coffee and cotton. Over the past few years, more than one in three honey bee colonies has died nationwide, posing a serious risk to our natural food supply in a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). When a hive experiences CCD, the honey bees desert their hive and die. CCD symptoms have been recorded in over 35 states across the U.S. and in many other countries worldwide.
Why are Bees so Vulnerable to Disease?
Some of the possible causes for weakening the bees’ immune systems, include pesticides, inbreeding, monoculture (planting one crop only), and the possible effects of genetically-modified crops.
To learn more about this problem, you might want to check out a new documentary called Vanishing of the Bees that is coming out this month, narrated by actor Ellen Page. The film is being screened in selected towns and cities nationwide. Here is a link to Bill Maher’s recent interview with Ellen Page.
And to help the bees, you might want to consider planting bee-friendly flowers or putting a bee house in your garden, and limiting your use of pesticides and herbicides. Buy organic honey from local bee keepers, or even consider becoming a beekeeper yourself. Please see the Honey Bee Conservancy for more ideas about how you can help bees.
The parallel between the plight of the frogs and the plight of the bees has an eerie similarity, although the specific issues involved are quite different. While scientists might have some clues about what is killing the bees and frogs, the underlying cause for why they are so are vulnerable to disease is still unknown. As one commenter on a NY Times blog wrote,“People should be aware of how fragile are the links in the eco-system, how interdependent all life is, and how simple, small things can quickly create major threats to all we take for granted.”
*As quoted by Bill Maher in his interview with Ellen Page
It’s finally Spring, and in our part of the world, we’re ecstatic. We’ve had a rough winter—we had snow and ice on our city streets every day for about 40 days in a row! The crocuses are blooming in my backyard, and outside the city, frogs are springing to life.
In a way, Spring is a good time to think about our “inner amphibian.” After all, mammals are descended from animals that moved from aquatic environments onto the land over three million years ago. As embryos, our heads in the early stages of development look remarkably similar to shark embryos—with gill arches and all. The metamorphosis of frogs is a process that’s not all that different from what all vertebrates go through, but the difference is that most of the development of birds, reptiles, and mammals—such as the growth of the lungs and limbs—takes place inside an egg or inside the mother instead.*
FROM EGG TO TADPOLE
A female frog first lays eggs underwater, sometimes hundreds of eggs, which form into a jelly-like clump called frogspawn, which floats on the water. Most of these eggs become food for other pond life, but some survive.
Tadpoles developing in eggs. © Dan L. Perlman/EcoLibrary.org
The tiny animal inside the egg grows for about a month, then hatches out of the egg. It looks like a small black fish and breathes underwater with feathery gills on each side of its head.
The tadpole’s tail begins to grow; it wiggles its tail to swim. Tadpoles are also called polliwogs. (The word “polliwog” is from Middle English polwygle. Pol means “head” and wiglen means to “to wiggle”). The tadpole eats algae and other plants that grow underwater.
FROM TADPOLE TO FROGLET
After several weeks, tadpoles begin their metamorphosis. Two tiny bumps appear near the tadpole’s tail—these will grow into back legs.
Two more bumps appear near the frog’s head—these will grow into front legs. Lungs begin to grow inside the tadpole’s body and the feathery gills disappear so that the tadpole will be able to breathe air.
The tadpole now has legs for hopping and walking, lungs for breathing air, but its long tail is awkward on land. Until the tail shrinks and is absorbed into its body, the froglet stays in or near the water.
Froglet with tail. Photo courtesy of www.scienceprojectlab.com
FROGLET TO FROG
When the tail is gone, the frog has completed its metamorphosis. The young frog will now feed on small insects, caught with their long, sticky tongues. It will eventually move away from the pond and find a safe place to grow.
This Spring, take some time to visit a nearby pond or swamp and see this process yourself. And check out the poster below that Susan designed for Earth Day, inspired by a photo by FROGS ARE GREEN photographer friend Joe Furman. All proceeds go to help our amphibian friends.
*I found this idea in Thomas Marent’s lovely and informative book, FROG.
illustration copyright Arnold Lobel
Ever wonder what the difference is between a frog and a toad? At FROGS ARE GREEN, we thought we’d enlighten you so that when you’re hiking in the woods and someone says, “Look at that cute frog!” you’ll be able to say, “That’s not a frog, that’s a toad!”
Frogs and toads are both amphibians in the order Anura. Of the three major classifications of amphibians, frogs make up the vast majority, about 90 percent of all amphibian species (the other types of amphibians are salamanders and caecilians). Toads are a sub-classification of frogs, meaning that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads (clear so far?).
WHERE DO FROGS AND TOADS LIVE
Both frogs and toads live near ponds, swamps, and marshes. Frogs can live on the ground or in trees. But toads live only on the ground.
SLIM VS. CHUBBY
Both frogs and toads have stubby front legs and they are both about the same size. But frogs have slimmer bodies and longer hind legs. These limbs are especially good for leaping from tree to tree and for swimming.
Toads are chubbier than frogs. They have shorter hind legs, good for hopping around on the ground, or walking and crawling. They are a bit slower and less active than their leaping frog cousins.
WEBBED FEET OR NOT?
Frogs usually have webbed hind feet, and some have webbed front feet. Some frogs, such as tree frogs, have pads on their toes that help frogs climb trees, or even stick to a glass window.
Most toads don’t have webbed feet or sticky toe pads. They move by a series of short hops on land.
SMOOTH VS. WARTY
Frog skin is usually smooth and moist. Toad skin is drier and bumpier. The bumps look like warts and its skin feels rough (don’t worry—you won’t get warts if you touch a toad’s skin!).
FROG AND TOAD EGGS
Frogs lay eggs in bunches, or clusters, which have a jelly-like substance around them. Toads lay their eggs in lines, or strands, on leaves of plants that live in the water.
These are the basic differences between frogs and toads, but things do get confusing. You can’t necessarily go by the common name of the frog or toad. In some parts of the world, especially tropical areas near the equator, frogs and toads often look alike. For example, the Harlequin frog is actually a toad. The only way to tell these frogs and toads apart is to look at the differences in their teeth and bones. Also, if a frog-like amphibian lives in a dry area, it is most likely a toad.
But for the most part, these guidelines will help you distinguish between the two types of amphibians. So this summer get your camera, your notebook, and binoculars and see if you can find some of these intriguing animals in the woods, near marshes and ponds, or even in your backyard.
We never stop being amazed by how amphibians are able to survive in the harshest environments. The Shovel-Nosed Chamber frog (Leptodactylus bufonius), for example, lives in the dry subtropical or tropical shrublands or grasslands of Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil, in areas that have only intermittent freshwater lakes, marshes, and ponds. But this frog has evolved many incredible adaptations for overcoming the challenges of living in these mostly dry conditions.
Going Underground
Unlike most frogs, Shovel-Nosed frogs don’t have ponds or other aquatic areas in which to lay their eggs. They have only the muddy remains of ponds that have dried up. So with their shovel-like noses, they dig a chamber in the mud and then top it with a mud cone. Because no water can penetrate these chambers, the frogs produce a foam nest from the female’s albumin secretions to keep the tadpoles moist. But there is no food in the nest—scientists believe the tadpoles metabolize their own issues for food. Then the frogs wait for a big rainstorm that will wash away the burrow and create a predator-free pond (like a vernal pool) for the tadpoles to grow in. But the story isn’t quite over. After the Shovel-Nosed frogs vacate their burrow, a local toad reuses it as a hiding place.
Take a look at this amazing video of the Shovel-Nosed frog by FROGS ARE GREEN friend Joe Furman. We especially like the frogs’ little mating wiggle!
About the filmmaker:
Joe Furman lives in Houston Texas. He is a lifelong animal photographer and makes wildlife documentaries, mostly about reptiles and amphibians. He is also an artist and cartoonist and father of one.
