Mood:
not sureTopic: Media
Fungus Threatening Amphibian Survival Worldwide
Here is an intersting discussion showing how confused the general public are about chytrid and whether they should be worried or not. I posted a message, but it didn't show up. I'm not sure if it goes through a moderator before being posted or what, but here is what I had to say.
First, I would like to explain a little about the chytrid fungus. It originated in Africa, and is believed to have been brought to the world via the African clawed frog, used for many years as a pregnancy test for humans. The female’s urine would be injected into the frog; if it laid eggs in a certain time frame, she was pregnant. Not as practical as EPT, but just as effective. Many of these frogs came from where the fungus was, and since it was in their natural environment, they could carry it, but not be affected by it. When the doctors were done with the frogs, many were discarded and some survived in wetlands around the world. Other tanks were cleaned out and the fungus was introduced that way. This allowed native frogs to get the fungus, and some, such as the American bullfrog were not affected and became carriers. When these frogs were taken and introduced in new lands for frog leg farms, the whole process began again. The fungus has been found globally, though it seems to be doing the most damage in the tropics. Global warming is believed to make the fungus grow stronger, and affect the frog’s immune system making them more vulnerable. It has already been noticed in the tropics that the decline of frogs has caused other animals that prey on frogs to decline and look for other prey causing them to decline. Just by the food chain alone, it will eventually impact humans. In addition, many other factors are making frog’s immune system allow things like this and parasites to be more prevalent, such as pesticides and added nutrients from human and animal waste. Frogs live in the water and on the land and breathe through their skin, with lungs and with gills. They are the first ones to show ill effects from a change in the environment, but it will affect humans as well. We need to look to the frogs for signals on how to improve our world. Maybe some see them as "Just Frogs" but these are animals that have survived on this world for over 300million years, much much longer than mankind, through dinosaur extinctions and ice ages, they are likely to survive as a whole through this, but will humans survive it, I don't know. There is much information out there about this, I suggest looking into it. I have not commented on anything I have’t first looked into. Feel free to start with Wendell’s Frog Blog ; there are many related articles as well as links to amphibian information sites.
Cheers,
Wendell
