The Global Amphibian Crisis

Kathy Duffy and Dr. Kristen Lukas of the

Cleveland Zoo hold up golden frog

merchandise. All proceeds go toward efforts

to the save the frogs.

by Jason Ferrell

On a Thursday evening, Kathy Duffey, a zookeeper from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, delivered a lecture on her ongoing Golden Frog conservation efforts. As it turns out, the frogs are dying.

Kathy tells her audience that the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species considers 32% of the amphibian class threatened, and that is a conservative estimate. Most amphibian specialists feel that roughly 48% of the class actually qualifies.

In Panama, frogs are being killed by a fungus that originated in Africa and is now spreading globally. In Australia and Costa Rica, frog and toad species have already went extinct due to the same fungus. And to think: until October 27th I had never even heard of chytrids.

Chytrids make up an entire division of the Fungi kingdom. One species happens to kill frogs and other amphibians in large numbers. This species is infectious, fatal, and spreads rapidly. Given the right conditions, a chytrid-contaminated water supply will completely wipe out susceptible amphibian species within three months. The end result is a depressing silence along the riverbank.

Here’s part of the problem: frogs and other amphibians breathe and drink through their skin. This makes them valuable as a bioindicator—a species that ecologists can use to gauge the overall “health” of an ecosystem. However, chytrids keratinize amphibian skin, making drinking and breathing difficult or impossible. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to retard, control, or stop the spread of chytrids; therefore, susceptible amphibians will die in the wild when exposed to infected water. Mass die-offs and extinctions are not uncommon.

Kathy is breaking my heart as she narrows her presentation. Chytrids are fatally chasing the Golden Frog through the Panamanian highlands. In April of 2005, Kathy and a team of other intrepid CMZ staffers flew into Panama City on a rescue mission in association with Project Golden Frog. This ecological expedition sought what may have been the last wild population of Panamanian Golden Frogs. It was not a simple task. The Golden Frog population was already decimated by infection. Kathy’s field journal periodically mentions areas in the wilderness, once teeming with frogs, now quiet. After a strenuous effort, the Cleveland team returned successfully with twelve hard-earned Golden Frogs.

The Panamanian Golden Frog has no small amount of cultural significance in its home country. This is an advantage: locals are very concerned with ensuring the Golden Frog’s continued existence. The disadvantage? Panamanians view scientific rescue expeditions as an example of U.S. imperialist frog theft. Hence, Golden Frogs can no longer be legally exported from the country. Conservation efforts in the United States have now begun to concentrate on aiding Panama’s sole rescue facility.

Kathy has been working to raise money in order to feed the frogs at the under-funded and overwhelmed Panama facility. The “Feed the Frogs” program at the CMZ offers a lovely line of Golden Frog merchandise, with 100% of the profits going directly toward funding the Panamanian facility. Feed the Frogs held an aluminum can drive through the Anthropology Student Organization, with participating KSU students gallantly adhering to the motto “Throw a party, save a frog!”

The lecture has concluded, and I am asking Kathy how she and other amphibian biologists maintain morale while faced with such a daunting task. She admits that it is easy for conservation-minded biologists to become depressed. I have no doubt that she is being frank.

It seems to me that biology is a field dedicated to studying the instances of great complexity and frailty which result from immensely powerful and interacting natural forces. Combined with conservation, which seems to be at constant odds with culturally empowered socioeconomic trends, one is indeed facing a struggle.

Kathy is telling me that maintaining and encouraging personal efficacy in conservation is the best way to cope. If I had twenty dollars, I would be buying a plush Golden Frog.