Just 10 years after its official discovery, one of Texas' rarest amphibians is in immediate danger of extinction. That's why last week the Center for Biological Diversity and Save Our Springs Alliance filed a notice of intent to sue for emergency protections. The two-inch-long Jollyville Plateau salamander spends its entire life underwater and has experienced serious decline, as well as deformities, from urban development polluting its spring and wet-cave habitats. Now it's in more danger than ever from the city of Austin's planned construction of a water-treatment plant in the heart of its habitat. In fact, one population has already been lost to the mere drilling of a test well.
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Leiopelma Webinar by Phil Bishop
Webinar on May 20
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now:
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The New Zealand Government is trying to open important frog habitat on
the Corimandel Peninsula to mining. To raise awareness of the issue,
Phil Bishop will be giving a webinar in which he will discuss the
situation and urge people to write the NZ Gov't officials in charge of
the decision.
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The Atlas of Global Conservation: Amphibians
In association with the Nature Conservancy and University of California Press, The Washington Post has published distribution maps of the numbers of species, for the major vertebrate groups.
- 1361 reads
Developing a Digital U.S. Biological Collections National Resource
Participants in a focus group, held at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center February 5-7, 2010, drafted an outline for the digitization and web mobilization of data and images associated with U.S. biological collections. Input from the community is requested as this plan develops to ensure that it builds appropriately on existing projects and reflects the missions and needs of the nation's diverse biological collections.
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- 960 reads
What Syngenta Claims About Atrazine and Amphibians
From the Syngenta website (10 March 2010):
"A growing body of research conducted by independent labs across the world is showing that atrazine has no effect on amphibian development."
Check out the Syngenta website for their position on atrazine and amphibians in response to Tyrone Hayes' research.
See also this news item
- 1029 reads
Bell Frog, Thought To Be On Last Legs, Spotted Alive and Kicking
Read more about the rediscovery of the Australian frog Litoria castanea
here.
- 1291 reads
Call For Papers - Alytes Amphibian Conservation Special Issue of Alytes
Bridging the gap between science and policy in amphibian conservation: Beyond 2010
Dear Colleagues,
The United Nations declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. While it is a year to celebrate the planet's living systems, it is also a year to take stock of what has been achieved to curb biodiversity loss and report against the 2010 biodiversity target.
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- 1491 reads
New Website for Frogs of Madagascar
Sahonagasy.org is a "community website for researchers, conservationists, and amateurs interested in the conservation of Madagascar's unique amphibian fauna."
The site contains literature, photos, and documents (pdfs) relating to conservation strategies for the frogs of Madagascar.
- 1508 reads
Frog Preserves
From The Economist
The idea of saving for a rainy day originated with farm hands whose work depended on the weather. Conservationists are thinking similarly about climate change and freezing the cells of threatened animals as a sort of insurance policy. One problem is that the cells of amphibians—among the animals most endangered by a warming world—have seemed almost impossible to preserve. That may change.
Read more in the Economist.
- 892 reads
