AP Environmental Science
8 July 2018
Mr. Callahan
Kolbert introduces the chapter with the mysterious disappearance of golden frogs in El Valle de Anton, a town in Panama that initially had an abundant frog population. After reading about the imminent extinction of amphibians, Kolbert decides to visit Panama to see the situation herself. There she discovers that multiple frog species are dying out but centers like the EVACC are trying to combat extinction through “frog hotels;” the frogs are pampered while scientists study the cause of their demise. Many scientists were initially doubtful because “amphibians are…among the planet’s great survivors.” This signals that if one of the most resilient species is indeed going extinct, then this is bad news for other organisms.
One possible reason for the golden frog’s demise is the spreading of Bd, a fungus, by human activity; although Bd can move on its own and is spread by bullfrogs, humans play a role in shifting Bd from continent to continent. I connected this to an article I once read about Tasmanian tigers; these animals used to exist across Australia until they went extinct due to the invasive dingoes. This is similar to the frogs because human shifting has led to the introduction of invasive species in foreign lands and mainly hurts native species. Overall, humans are altering the planet by introducing invasive species; these invasives threaten the ecosystem and biodiversity.
