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Changing Environment: Disappearing frogs signal impending danger
17/Sep/2006: Frogs around the world are disappearing at an alarming rate and their disappearance could have a profound effect on our environment. Nine frog species have become extinct in the last 20 years and another 113 species have disappeared from the wild. To be precise, the world’s frog population has dropped by over 43% due to a host of reasons, ranging from climate change to deforestation.
Frogs play an important role in our ecosystem. They control the insect population and help the humans, by checking the population of mosquitoes and other disease-transmitting insects. They also serve as a food source for birds, fishes and small mammals. Declining frog numbers could disturb this entire ecosystem with dire consequences.
Scientists and environmentalists around the world are aware of this decline in frog and other amphibian population for over 15 years now. Climate Change, habitat loss, ultra-violet radiations from the Sun, pollution, diseases and introduction of new animal species that feed on frogs are thought to be the main reasons behind this decline. 30% of the frog and other amphibious species known to humans are classified as threatened, according to the Global Amphibian Assessment.
Amphibians are the most-affected by the changes in the environment and they act as an indicator for negative environmental changes. So the decline in their numbers might be an indicator of an impending environmental disaster. Global warming has accelerated the decline of frogs and amphibians because it provides the perfect climatic conditions for a fatal infectious fungal disease called ‘Chytridiomycosis’ to thrive. This disease infects frogs and other amphibians causing dramatic declines in population and in some cases leading to the extinction of the entire species. Chytridiomycosis is spreading fast across the globe and needs to be contained immediately, to save the remaining frog and amphibian species.
Ultra-violet rays and acid rain kills frog’s eggs and pollutants in lakes and other water bodies cause hormonal imbalance in frogs, affecting their reproductive cycle. All these factors have decimated the frog population around the world in the last few decades and their decline could prove catastrophic to our environment in the years to come.
Kesavan Siva
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