![]() ![]() Around 40% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, and many are already extinct. It’s a reality that many amphibians around the world have been declining and disappearing, even in pristine areas, at an unprecedented rate. ![]() This situation led Agent Fox Mulder to believe that the unexplained depletion of the frogs disturbed the normal balance of the ecosystem, causing other creatures to have a decreased food supply / search for new food supplies. Farraway reports that the frog population in a lake at the Blue Ridge Mountains has declined dramatically without explanation. The story of amphibian declines has even made it into popular media such as an X-files episode – Quagmire. For humans, this situation is critical, as large losses of animals clearly disrupt ecosystem goods and services with negative consequences on human well-being. Unlike previous mass extinctions, the current losses of species we are experiencing are being caused, directly or indirectly, by us. That is the number of extinctions that would have occurred in 10,000 years by the normal course of evolution and extinction. About 500 species of vertebrates became extinct in the last 100 years. Over time, the Golden Toad has become a symbol of the declines and the extinction of animals across the globe. Bd is now known as one of the most destructive pathogens ever recorded in wild animals.Īmphibians are a clear and modern example of a class facing extinction. The killer fungus threatens the survival of more than 500 species of amphibians across the globe. We now know that the killer fungus originated in Asia and that humans unintentionally spread it around the world causing dramatic declines and disappearances of many amphibians. This new fungus to science was found to cause the skin disease chytridiomycosis - which leads to a ‘heart-attack’ and death to frogs and salamanders. The silent killer fungus, Bd, was described by Smithsonian’s National Zoo veterinarians working with a scientist from the University of Maine ( Longcore et al. After the crime scene investigation, the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatis (Bd) lurking in the forest is believed to be at least in part one of the killers in this story. A silent killer came and led the Golden Toads to their disappearance in 1989. But suddenly without warning, these orange frogs called Golden Toads, started to disappear rapidly in the middle of this pristine area to the point of vanishing from existence. Lots of beautiful, brilliant orange-colored frogs found nowhere else on Earth, emerged from their underground shelter in search of a female to reproduce. The year is 1987 and it’s a beautiful day after a heavy rain in the cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica. The Yonahlossee salamander is a woodland species from the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States (Brian Gratwicke) ![]()
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