Study links warming, extinction of frogs

Rising temperatures are responsible for pushing dozens of frog species over the brink of extinction in the past three decades, according to a findings being reported today by a team of Latin American and U.S. scientists.

The study, published in the journal Nature, provides concrete evidence that climate change has already helped wipe out a slew of species and could spur more extinctions and the spread of disease worldwide. It also helps solve the international mystery of why amphibians across the globe have been vanishing from their usual habitats over the past quarter century: As many as 112 species have disappeared since 1980.

Scientists have speculated that rising temperatures and changing weather patterns could endanger the survival of many species, but the new study documents for the first time a direct correlation between global warming and the disappearance of roughly 65 amphibian species in Central and South America.

The paper helps explain how global warming has allowed the chytrid fungus – which kills frogs by growing on their skin and attacking their epidermis and teeth as well as by releasing a toxin – to thrive in Costa Rica and nearby countries. The higher temperatures result in more water vapor in the air, which in turn forms a cloud cover that leads to cooler days and warmer nights. These conditions favor the fungus, which grows and reproduces best at temperatures between 63 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit.