Vanishing Amphibians - more reasons for concern

The news and the studies certainly aren't new, but there's another report out today documenting growing concerns about amphibians in our increasingly polluted world. They're a "marker species" and are often the first to vanish when an environment starts to become poisoned.

From www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2004/10/15/MNGOV9AHE61.DTL

Disease, climate change and habitat loss are threatening one-third of the world's fragile species of frogs, toads, newts and salamanders, according to the first global assessment of amphibians.

The results of the survey, published today in the journal Science, show that 1,856 of the known 5,743 species are "globally threatened'' in their forest, stream or underground homes.

The delicate creatures, which have thin, porous skins and need fresh water to stay moist, are faring much worse around the world than either birds or mammals, the scientists say. Around a tenth of bird species and a quarter of mammal species are threatened.

The UK government's leading scientist says levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere already represent a danger.

The full article can be found at:
news.bbc.co.uk...
We humans have become a pest. Why is it that we can come up with all kind of smart things, but are unable to do simple things like birthcontrol?


[edit on 15-10-2004 by Cyborgwitch]