The Sixth Extinction: Chapter 1

     In Chapter 1, Kolbert introduces us to the toxic and endangered golden frogs located in the town of El Valle de Antón. Kolbert found out about the frogs in a children’s nature magazine where it  said that biologists in the town were trying to build a special facility to save the golden frogs. However, they captured a few dozen frogs and kept them in a frog hotel, where they took care of the frogs and fed them well. Kolbert came upon a scientific article arguing that the world was in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, which would be bad for amphibians and many other life forms. Kolbert bought a ticket to Panama to learn more. In El Valle, Kolbert visited the EVACC, which is largely devoted to saving the golden frog, or Atelopus zeteki, from going extinct. Edgardo Griffith claims that the world is losing frog species before people even know they exist. Kolbert then learned that the mysterious fungus, Bd, had killed off most of the golden frogs in El Valle.

     (R) Bd really made me think about the theme: humans alter natural systems. On page 18 it states that, "Bd is capable of moving on its own. The fungus generates microscopic spores with long, skinny tails; these propel themselves in water and can be carried far longer by streams." The fungus was a species of its own and was capable of causing problems in the natural system by its own. However, in the chapter Kolbert explained that Bd was spread by humans. Bd in the 1960s, was an ingredient in a popular pregnancy test. Others said that North American bullfrogs spread Bd to other continents after human beings spread bullfrogs to Asia, Africa, and South America. In either case, the reason for the spread of Bd is human caused travel, which has produced an “intercontinental reshuffling” that is “unprecedented in the … history of life.” (Pgs. 18-19) The theme also made me think about EVACC, and the frog hotel. Although the center was meant to help save the frogs, they kept pulling other frogs from their niche/habitat, which is harmful to the frogs because they're accustomed to a certain lifestyle and to certain surroundings. If they're brought into another place, the frogs wouldn't know how to adapt and then they would eventually die. And this made me think about the end of the chapter when Griffith took a bullfrog and a salamander from the forest to the center and Kolbert predicting that they were going to die. 

                                                                   
                                                                 By: Mousumi Dhar