Remember this WUWT story? What frog science can teach us about global warming
From UC Davis: National survey finds frog abnormalities rare
A 10-year study shows some good news for frogs and toads on national wildlife refuges. The rate of abnormalities such as shortened or missing legs was less than 2 percent overall — indicating that the malformations first reported in the mid-1990s were rarer than feared. But much higher rates were found in local “hotspots,” suggesting that where these problems occur they have local causes. The results were published Nov. 18 in the journal PLOS ONE.
“We now know what the baseline is and the 2 percent level is relatively good news, but some regions need a deeper look,” said Marcel Holyoak, professor of environmental science and policy at the University of California, Davis, and a co-author on the study. Hotspot regions included the Mississippi River Valley, California and south-central and eastern Alaska.
Mari Reeves, a graduate student working with Holyoak, led the data analysis and is corresponding author on the paper. Reeves now works at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska.
Fieldwork for the study was carried out by the Fish and Wildlife Service at 152 refuges across the country between 2000 and 2009. Researchers collected more than 68,000 frogs and toads for the study. The complete dataset is available to researchers and the public online.
The aim of the study was to understand where and when these abnormalities occur — are they widespread, or localized? Are they persistent, or do they appear and fade away? — rather than to identify specific causes, Holyoak said. Understanding the patterns of these hotspots in space and time can help researchers home in on likely causes, he said.
The results show that abnormality hotspots occur in specific places, but within these hotspots the rate of malformations can change over time, Holyoak said.
“We see them at an elevated frequency one year or for a few years, and then they recover,” he said.
The most common problems observed were missing or shortened toes or legs, and skin cysts. Only 12 cases of frogs with extra legs were found.
Many different potential causes have been put forward for the abnormalities, including pollution from industry or agriculture, parasites, ultraviolet exposure and naturally occurring heavy metals leaching into water bodies. The exact cause may vary from place to place, Holyoak noted.
The study comes against a background of a general decline in amphibian populations both in the U.S. and worldwide. For example, the California red-legged frog celebrated by Mark Twain’s story is now listed as threatened. Frogs and toads may be especially sensitive to changes in climate and air or water quality. It’s not clear whether hotspots of malformations contribute to this general decline, Holyoak said, but the new dataset will help researchers explore the problem.
The study was funded by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Other authors were: Kimberly Medley and Pieter Johnson, University of Colorado, Boulder; Alfred Pinkney, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Annapolis; and Michael Lannoo, Indiana University School of Medicine.
Vince Causey says:
November 21, 2013 at 11:42 am
You are correct. The oldest proto-frog fossil is from Early Triassic rock, but molecular clock dating suggests that they existed in the Permian, so survived not just the K/T but the Mother of All Mass Extinctions as well.
Also the Triassic/Jurassic mass extinction event.
Where the frogs really went.
Jquip: “More properly, and without the overtones, it keeps coming back to the poor.”
No it doesn’t. There has not been a single “looming ecological disaster” that did not incorporate as part of the “solution” the prevention of development by the (non white) Third World. From “Global Cooling” through “Acid Rain” to “Climate change” part of the answer is to slow or stop development in the (non white) Third World.
Malaria was a scourge all over the planet and then DDT was invented. What happened once the predominantly white nations had eradicated it? It’s use was “discouraged” and it was finally banned, leaving the predominantly non white nations to suffer.
The Green Luddites are quite happy for their ideas and policies to kill millions, they are proud of the DDT ban and don’t care about the millions sickened or killed. Being Luddites they are against development at all times but if their actions can bump off some of the “teeming swarms” in the process, then all the better.
They rarely say it, but their actions betray their goals.
Considering that the hind legs are the first items to develop on a tadpole, how are they so sure they’re “deformed”, rather than bitten off?
When, even in modern times (As we know new frogs species have been discovered), has the presence of any species on this rock has been static?
Thanks for sharing that helpful link to evidence, Max Hugoson (8:40am, 11/21/13). Of course, they would style the local disease zones “hot spots” to falsely imply that AGW is the underlying culprit — along with a hysterical shriek at the end (paraphrased, but not much…) Muths: “But, disease is NOTHING!!! Who cares if you are dying of a disease when you don’t even have a house to live in!!!!”
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GREAT VIDEO, OssQss — thanks for sharing.
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@ur momisugly Gary Hladik (11/21, 8:29am) and Latitude (11/21, 9:20am — heh, great minds…) — great wit and humor, lol.
@ur momisuglyTom G. Ologist (111/21, 10:48am) — thanks for sharing — lol.
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Great research, Jimbo, as usual. Thanks. {Jimbo stares back coldly} Yeah, yeah, I realize you didn’t do it for me. I’m grateful, anyway. #(:))
[Fashion observation of the day. The ponytail is gone, long live the bowltie. Mod]
Oh, Moderator, you noticed. (smile) HOWEVER, (parumph) it is a bow — on TOP of my head, lol. “Janice” is a girl’s name! (eye roll) {re: the “bowl,” (Kip Hansen’s misread) lol, after some of my posts, I suppose that is what I SHOULD put over my head, heh}
Hey, did your dad (or some other relative) ever have fun doing this with you as a little kid?
{take handkerchief and form a: moustache — bow tie — bow with it}
=|(:#(] — “You MUST pay the rent!”
#(:() — “I CAN’T pay the rent!”
{REPEAT: above with increasingly exaggerated dramatic expression UNTIL child is giggling}
=)(:|]# — “I’ll pay the rent!”
#(:)) — “My hero!”
[The moderator is bowled over #](:))… Butt, is this a parumph? ((*))? Mod]
Au contraire. Locate the UN Population Survey, and open the Low Band page. It’s the only one ever close to accurate. Peak in 30 years, at about 8bn, declining thereafter, indefinitely. De-pop will be the real crisis, just as cooling will hit all the warmist-planners crossways.
To be explicit, we are being pushed to prepare for an overheated and overcrowded planet and are going to get the reverse. Which will be REALLY bad news, not pretend and imaginary bad news like we are playing with currently, for thrills and jollies.
Moderator,
Ahem! I hope that was a typo about halfway through your reply to my 3:09pm post, lol.
Please forgive my obtuseness, but, the only things ((*)) looks like to me are either a pumpkin or a spider. Please advise.
Thanks!
Janice
Well, looks like I’m one step above a persona non grata here, now. I’ve been diss’d by a MOD! Well, just you wait, young man. Someday, (soon, I hope, heh, heh) you are going to meet someone when you’re two sheets to the wind and wake up married and THEN…. we’ll see who gets the last laugh. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaa!
#(;))
“Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William, Now” (Van Halen)