- Almost a third of the world's frogs, toads, salamanders
and other amphibians are threatened with extinction within 100 years, according
to a study.
-
- That tens of thousands of years of evolution could be
wiped out in a century is seen by some experts as a warning of impending
environmental disaster.
-
- Amphibians are widely regarded as "canaries in the
coal mine," or useful indicators of potentially harmful changes in
the environment, because their permeable skin is so sensitive.
-
- "Amphibians are one of nature's best indicators
of overall environmental health," said Russell Mittermeier, president
of US-based Conservation International (CI). "Their catastrophic decline
serves as a warning that we are in a period of significant environmental
degradation."
-
- The underlying cause of their deaths is not clear, according
to the Global Amphibian Assessment, compiled by more than 500 scientists
from over 60 nations. The key findings will be published by the journal
Science.
-
- Simon Stuart, senior director of the IUCN/CI Biodiversity
Assessment Unit, who led the team, said: 'The bottom line is that there's
almost no evidence of recovery and no known techniques for saving mysteriously
declining species in the wild.'
-
- Over the past three years, scientists analysed the distribution
and conservation status of all 5,743 known amphibian species. Of these,
1,856 - 32 per cent - are considered threatened with extinction. Sufficient
data are lacking accurately to assess the status of nearly 1,300 other
species, also thought to be threatened.
-
- By comparison, only 12 per cent of all bird species and
23 per cent of all mammal species are threatened.
-
- In the Americas, the Caribbean and Australia, a fungal
disease called chytridiomycosis has hit amphibians especially hard, but
it is less of a problem in most parts of the world, including Europe, Asia
and Africa, where habitat destruction, air and water pollution and consumer
demand are causing the decline.
-
- Bruce Young, a zoologist with the conservation group
NatureServe, said: "We need greater protection of natural areas and
accelerated research on amphibian diseases to stem the extinction tide."
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=EUNX
PGRWE3OK5QFIQMFSM5OAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/2004/10/15/wfr
og15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/10/15/ixworld.html&secureRefresh=true&
_requestid=29451
|
