"Toiling to Save a Threatened Frog"
From: Erica Rex, New York Times
Published October 4, 2010
2010. Copyright New York Times
Summary
Things are not always what they seem, especially at Bishop Pass in the Sierra Nevada. What appears to be in a thriving forest is chytridiomycosis, a deadly fungal disease. This disease has taken out over 200 species of amphibians, particularly the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. A college close by is conducting an experiment that could potentially save these frogs. They are putting Janthinobacterium livdum, or J. liv, on the frogs to help them with the disease. It would not 100% protect the frogs, but it would help fight the disease off,
Before the deadly fungus was in the Sierra Nevada, the population was already depleting from the trout being introduced into the lakes. The trout were introduced for fishing and have taken over the lake. The disease has made the once overpopulation frogs to barely 300 scattered over thousands of lakes.
Dr. Vredenburg has studied the Sierra Nevada area and the yellow-legged population. He noticed that the introduced species has thrown balance of the population for the frogs out the window. They were decreasing drastically. This happened before with the brown and rainbow trout with tadpoles. The National Park Service noticed this and began to remove the trout. Once the trout disappeared, the frog population went up.
Dr. Vredenburg took his experiment to Dusy Basin, where chytridiomycosis was just starting, In July, him and his students took 100 frogs, tagged them, and placed them in J. liv for an hour, enough time for the J. liv to settle on the frogs' skin. They were then released into the wild. In September, he checked up on the frogs and found several that had not been tagged. They were taken to a lab and the ones that had been tagged had more resistance to chytridiomycosis than the non-tagged frogs. The future of the yellow-legged frogs now lies in the fate of the tadpoles and their resistance to chytridiomycosis.
Opinion/Reflection
I think that it is horrible that the yellow-legged frog is rapidly decreasing. Especially since there was such an abundance of the frogs no more than ten years ago. It's also great that the scientists are taking action to preserve the biodiversity of the Sierra Nevada mountains and trying to keep the invasive species out. It has been proven time after time that the trout are the reason of the frog depletion.Hopefully, the fungus disease doesn't affect the tadpoles too much.
Questions
1.Do you think that the yellow-legged frogs will be able to recover the the rapid decrease they currently face?
2. Will the tadpoles be able to build a strong enough immune system to defend themselves against chytridiomycosis?
3. Why is it bad to bring the trout into the lakes up in the Sierra Nevada mountains?
4. How many years would it take to make the frogs recover from the decrease in population?
By Katie Abraham
I think its is terrible that the yellow-legged frog is continuing to die. I think they should focus alot on the fungus that is killing these frogs. It is really a shame how many frogs have died from the fungus. I hope they can get the fungus under control so the frogs stop dying.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/images/2007-12-17/frog.jpg
This is a link to a picture of the yellow-legged frog that is rapidly decreasing in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The frogs dying is an unfortunate news. To think that a fungal disease killed 200 species of 6,700 the total amphibian species to extinction. I wouldn't want the same to happen to the yellow-legged frogs. It is a shame that one third of the amphibians are being threatened. I still can't believe this has been going on for a decade. I still hope Dr. Vredenburg will find a 100% working vaccination for the frogs.
ReplyDelete1) I think the yellow-legged frogs will recover if they are saved from chytridiomycosis by Dr. Vredenburg. If the chytridiomycosis is still present and the frogs get it, I think they will surely die. Just like the other 200 species, they will die if Dr. Vredenburg doesn't help.
This is a link to the yellow-legged frogs that had chytridiomycosis and are dead.
http://amphibiaweb.org/images/dead_rana_muscosa.jpg
There are so many species dying in our Earth today and it's really a shame that us humans can't give attention to every endangered species all the time. However, I think it's great to save one by one and the yellow frogs will hopefully be saved with J. Liv. and survive from chytridiomycosis. I hope they grow resistance to the disease and be able to reproduce and thrive again like before. However, I think there should have been another way to remove the trouts instead of killing them because they should have a place to live too.
ReplyDelete2) I think the tadpoles will be able to build a strong resistance like viruses do when they become immune to antibiotics. Sure it will take some time but I think they will become immune to chytridiomycosis.
http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/38/1/206.pdf
This is a link to an article about Native Arizona Frogs affected with the same disease.
I wonder how the frogs' population decrease will affect its surroundings and the other organisms in its ecosystem. Since this area has been affected by ecological distress before I am curious to see how it will react to the frog problem.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to an article with a picture of the frogs.
http://www.irreplaceablewild.org/exhibit/gallery/mountain_yellow_legged_frog.html