Fungus threatens to wipe out Philippine frogs

May 20, 2009

MANILA (AFP) — A deadly frog fungus that has wiped out hundreds of amphibian species in the Americas is now devastating the populations of five frog species in the Philippines, experts said Wednesday.

A two-year nationwide survey by a team of US and Filipino scientists found that the Philippines has become the third country in Asia to be hit by the chytrid fungus.

The fungus, which attacks the skin of frogs and salamanders and affects the formation of tadpoles' body parts, is also present in Japan and Indonesia.

A golden frog, one of many frog species in danger from a deadly fungus

The Luzon striped frog, Rana similis, one of five affected endemic species, has practically disappeared from the lowland forests of Mount Labo on the southeast tip of the main Philippine island of Luzon, said Arvin Diesmos, curator of amphibians and reptiles at the National Museum of the Philippines.

The Luzon stream frog (Rana luzonensis), two species of the Luzon fanged frog (Limnonectes woodworth and Limnonectes macrocephalus), and the Puddle frog (Occidozyga laevis) were also found to be infected in Labo and the Palay-palay mountain range near Manila.

The nocturnal, stream-dwelling frogs form part of the diet of Philippine fauna, many of them threatened with extinction.

"This is a very serious threat to amphibian biodiversity in the Philippines," said Rafe Brown, Diesmos' counterpart at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and a member of the study team.

"The Philippines is home to an incredibly diverse amphibian fauna. Along with forest destruction, pollution, and climate change, chytrid fungus may turn out to be the 'final blow' that sparks major amphibian extinctions in the archipelago," he added.

He said the team that took part in the study suspects all of these factors could be linked to the spread of the fungus.

At least 592 of the country's 1,137 endemic species of amphibians, birds and mammals are either threatened or endangered, according to the environment and natural resources department.

The Philippines has about 110 species of frogs, 80 percent of them endemic to the country, Diesmos said.

The naturally-occurring chytrid fungus has been linked to "hundreds" of amphibian extinctions in Europe, Australia and the Americas, according to Brown.

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Western Ghats all set to become world heritage site

Shishir Prashant / New Delhi/ Dehra Dun June 19, 2009, 0:56 IST

The Western Ghats, known for its evergreen tropical forests and rich biodiversity, is all set to become a world heritage site.

“By 2010, we are confident of getting world heritage site status for the Western Ghats,” said VB Mathur, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India, which has prepared a nomination dossier of 39 natural sites from states like Karnataka, Kerala, and Maharashtra under a single cluster of the Western Ghats.

India has already submitted the dossier to Unesco, which is the nodal agency for declaring heritage sites. A team of Unesco would travel to India next year to give its seal of approval in this regard.

The sites from Karnataka include Agumbe Reserve Forest, Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, Someshwara Reserved Forest, Kudremukh National Park, Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, Talacauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Padinalknad Reserve Forest, Kerti Reserve Forest and Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, all major tourist attractions.

According to the guidelines of the World Heritage Convention, of which India is a signatory, each country has to prepare a tentative list of sites that it proposes to nominate as world heritage sites, Mathur said.

Surveys by WII officials with the help of a Bangalore-based agency Atree were conducted to find sites in the 150,000 sq km Western Ghats.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had assigned the responsibility of preparing nomination dossiers for Western Ghats to WII. “We submitted our nomination dossier to HRD Ministry which in turn submitted to UNESCO,” said Mathur.

There are six natural heritage sites in India which include Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Kaziranga National Park, Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Sunderban and Keoladeo National Park.

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Monarchs get radio tags

High hopes pinned on tiny creatures

Photo by Nick Krug. Enlarge photo.

National Geographic film crew members Charlie Miller, from left, Eddie O’Connor and Bob Poole grab footage as Martin Wikelski, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, and Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch, attach a radio transmitter tag to a monarch butterfly Wednesday at the Lawrence Municipal Airport. National Geographic came along to film the tagging and tracking process for a segment on migrations.

By Annalise Flynn

May 21, 2009

History was made Wednesday in Lawrence, and it was all due to some winged visitors making their way through town.

“What we’re going to try to do is something that’s never been done before, and that’s put radio tags on monarch butterflies, try to get them to fly. Hopefully, we’ll be able to follow them in the airplane and see where they go,” said Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch at Kansas University.

Photo by Nick Krug Lawrence Journal-World

Martin Wikelski, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University and Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch attach a radio transmitter tag to a monarch butterfly Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at the Lawrence Municipal Airport. Taylor and Wikelski attached the tracking device to several monarchs to test the piece of microtechnology in the field. National Geographic came along to film the tagging and tracking process for a segment on migrations.

Lawrence is a regular stop for the butterflies on their northward migration from Mexico.

National Geographic was in town to film the radio tagging for a new series, “Great Migration.”

Princeton University professor and biologist Martin Wikelski has used radio transmitters to track the journeys of other species, but never before has the migration of the monarch been investigated using this technology.

Wikelski, Taylor and the National Geographic crew were at the Lawrence Municipal Airport with their six-legged subjects. First, they fed the butterflies to make sure they had energy to carry the transmitters that would be attached to their bodies. The transmitters weigh about half as much as a butterfly does, which Taylor described as “startling” to the butterfly.

After releasing a newly accessorized butterfly, Taylor and Wikelski went up in a two-passenger plane for about 45 minutes to follow its signal.

“It moved a little bit to the north-northeast, which is what we expected,” said an excited Taylor post-flight.

They will be releasing more butterflies today in, hopefully, less windy conditions.

“This is the first step, and after we get through (Thursday), we’ll talk about where to take this then,” Taylor said.

Radio Tagging Monarch Butterflies by Vijay Barve

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