Fish and Amphibians

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on illegal dumping in the Pajaro Valley. Read the first part in the Aug. 23 edition of the Pajaronian. WATSONVILLE — For the City of Watsonville’s Sr. Utilities Engineer Jacqueline McCloud, nothing is more heartbreaking than seeing a waterway that she manages clogged full of trash. Even mere steps from her office at the Water Resources Center, just off West Beach Street along a bend of the Pajaro River, she has seen plenty. “I feel this kind of deep-set sorrow when I see human waste in a natural environment,” McCloud said. “I’ve actually seen animals building nests from garbage. It’s disgusting.” A new regulation in California is calling for 100 percent of trash to be removed from rivers, sloughs and other inland bodies of water by 2030. New ordinances would require things such as trash ‘racks’ being placed on the end of waterways to catch garbage before it flows into major channels. But illegal dumping, McCloud said, i...

A Dwindling, Dying Dead Sea: A Call for Restorative Action In July 2019, seven Columbia University graduate students traveled to Jordan and Israel to conduct fieldwork and explore the complex issues surrounding cooperation on environmental issues and managing shared natural resources. The course is a collaboration between Columbia University and the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University. This is one in a series of posts about the trip. By Mehul Dalal One of the most memorable moments and highlights of traveling to Israel, Jordan, and Palestine is visiting the lowest point on Earth’s continents: the Dead Sea. It is an experience like no other taking a dip in its hypersaline waters that allow one to float effortlessly; even when I tried to sink down, it seemed impossible to do so. The sea and the unique landscapes around it had an unearthly sensation and aura. The turquoise waters and salty white crystalline shores shone under clear skies and a blistering sun,...

LETTER TO THE EDITOR I am so relieved by this UN scientific report — what with billions of tons of plastics being dumped and broken down to microscopic residues. But actually, the caveat is there are much bigger problems to contend with, like disease causing microbes, many of which are developing immunities to antibiotics (bacteria), fungicides (fungi and yeasts) and amoebas-like the nose infecting brain eating ones swimmers inhale.  These can all be a problem when they hitch rides on floating rafts of plastic to traverse the expansive oceans coming to a shore near you! Plastic won’t rot so the rafts get through nicely enough. Other huge problems are all the cast-off antibiotic pills and hormones and other drugs that leach into waterways, causing fish and amphibians to develop ambiguous genitalia (and we eat this stuff, too). But, back to the plastics. Fish eat the particles and get eaten by larger fish and then we cook the meat (with heat) and even if the plastic itself i...

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority has a plan in motion to preserve the wildlife within the lakes and rivers after the dewatering. However, to local experts, conservation is not an easy task.  The plan to drain the lakes beginning Sept. 16 has left the community angry, confused and concerned about what will happen to the wildlife and vegetation that thrives on the waterways once the lakes return to just a river channel.  GBRA Communications Manager Patty Gonzales said the organization is working closely with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to ensure the life forms on the Guadalupe Valley lakes are preserved in the dewatering process.  “Some of the measures that we have taken include aquatic habitat mapping prior to the drawdown, planning for future fish and wildlife habitat restoration to be conducted on exposed lands during the watering and within the lakes upon refilling, and informing the rates of lake lowering that will allow fish and other aquatic life ...

In June of this year, herpetologist Andrés Charrier took some of his colleagues to view the Loa water frog, a small and speckled critter that dwells exclusively in a stream outside the Chilean city of Calama. But upon arriving at the site, the group found that the stream was dry—and the population of water frogs, already critically endangered , seemed to have shrunk to just 14 sickly individuals that languished in a pool of muddy water. “It’s something we talk about all the time—frogs are at risk, animals and the environment are at risk, climate change and drought, extreme weather conditions,” Charrier tells Megan Shersby of BBC Wildlife . “But I have been working in conservation for the last 10 years with frogs and I never expected to see something like this.” The team, which consisted of conservationists, government officials and indigenous leaders, knew that time for the Loa water frog, or Telmatobius dankoi , was running out fast. So they collected the paltry group of surviving...

Robin Warne (photo credit for tadpoles Robin Warne) Robin Warne, Ph.D., a vertebrate physiological ecologist from the Department of Zoology at Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale, will present on the importance of gut microbiota for larval frogs. His seminar is scheduled for 4-5 p.m. Thursday, September 5, in 210 Moulton Hall as part of the School of Biological Sciences’ seminar series. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Critical developmental windows can have profound effects on animal phenotypes, and exposure to varying factors during these periods influence the function and health of animals over lifetimes. Research in Warne’s lab at SIU explores the factors and determinants that shape critical developmental and disease windows in amphibians, including environmental stressors, neuroendocrine function, and gut microbiota. This seminar will explore recent work demonstrating how hatching constitutes a critical window for establishment of a gut microbio...

Robin Warne (photo credit for tadpoles Robin Warne) Robin Warne, Ph.D., a vertebrate physiological ecologist from the Department of Zoology at Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale, will present on the importance of gut microbiota for larval frogs. His seminar is scheduled for 4–5 p.m. Thursday, September 5, in 210 Moulton Hall as part of the School of Biological Sciences’ seminar series. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Critical developmental windows can have profound effects on animal phenotypes, and exposure to varying factors during these periods influence the function and health of animals over lifetimes. Research in Warne’s lab at SIU explores the factors and determinants that shape critical developmental and disease windows in amphibians, including environmental stressors, neuroendocrine function, and gut microbiota. This seminar will explore recent work demonstrating how hatching constitutes a critical window for establishment of a gut microbio...

Ryan Harvey A southern white rhinoceros at Lake Nakuru, Kenya. This article is brought to you in association with the  United Nations . At-risk wildlife that is facing a “growing extinction crisis” received a boost on Wednesday, as countries wrapped up a marathon meeting in Geneva, by agreeing to increased protection measures and more sustainable trade in animals and plants across the globe. At its latest three-yearly conference, the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES ) revised the trade rules for dozens of species brought low by unstainable trade linked to overharvesting, overfishing and overhunting. In her closing comments,  CITES Secretary-General  Ivonne Higuero  welcomed the fact that signatories to the Convention had supported wildlife trade that is “sustainable, legal, traceable”. She also warned against complacency in the face of illegal trading linked to cr...

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority has a plan in motion to preserve the wildlife within the lakes and rivers after the dewatering. However, to local experts, conservation is not an easy task.  The plan to drain the lakes on Sept. 16 has left the community angry, confused and concerned about what will happen to the wildlife and vegetation that thrives on the waterways once the lakes return to just a river channel.  GBRA Communications Manager Patty Gonzalez said the organization is working closely with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to ensure the lifeforms on the Guadalupe Valley lakes are preserved in the dewatering process.  “Some of the measures that we have taken include aquatic habitat mapping prior to the drawdown, planning for future fish and wildlife habitat restoration to be conducted on exposed lands during the watering and within the lakes upon refilling, and informing the rates of lake lowering that will allow fish and other aquatic life to follo...

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- For the first time, researchers have used the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 to produce mutant reptiles, four tiny albino lizards. Scientists have previously manipulated the genes of mammals, birds, fish and amphibians, but never reptiles. The team of University of Georgia researchers described their breakthrough in a paper published this week in the journal Cell Reports . "Reptiles are very understudied in terms of their reproductive biology and embryonic development," Douglas Menke, study co-author and an associate professor in the department of genetics at Georgia, said in a news release . "There are no good methods to manipulate embryos like we can easily do with mammals, fish or amphibians. To our knowledge, no other lab in the world has produced a genetically altered reptile." To produce mutant offspring, scientists inject a gene-editing solution into a newly fertilized egg or single-cell embryo. The early intervention allows the...

As flames burn through Brazil's rainforest, its inhabitants are at risk of losing their homes. The fires pose a serious threat to the Amazon's delicate balance of ecosystems, putting pressure on already endangered species of animals. Expect a significant loss of wildlife, says Roberto Troya, Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The Amazon contains one in 10 known species on earth, including at least 40,000 plant species and more than 400 mammal, 300 reptile, 400 amphibian and 3,000 freshwater fish species, according to the WWF . Not adapted to cope with fire While it is impossible to know which species are at risk until scientists assess the size and distribution of the fires and animal populations, we already know that animals native to the Amazon are not adapted to cope with such blazes. Mazeika Sullivan, an ecologist and environmental scientist from Ohio State University who has done fieldwork in the Colombian Amazon,...

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- For the first time, researchers have used the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 to produce mutant reptiles, four tiny albino lizards. Scientists have previously manipulated the genes of mammals, birds, fish and amphibians, but never reptiles. The team of University of Georgia researchers described their breakthrough in a paper published this week in the journal Cell Reports . "Reptiles are very understudied in terms of their reproductive biology and embryonic development," Douglas Menke, study co-author and an associate professor in the department of genetics at Georgia, said in a news release . "There are no good methods to manipulate embryos like we can easily do with mammals, fish or amphibians. To our knowledge, no other lab in the world has produced a genetically altered reptile." To produce mutant offspring, scientists inject a gene-editing solution into a newly fertilized egg or single-cell embryo. The early intervention allows the...

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- For the first time, researchers have used the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 to produce mutant reptiles, four tiny albino lizards. Scientists have previously manipulated the genes of mammals, birds, fish and amphibians, but never reptiles. The team of University of Georgia researchers described their breakthrough in a paper published this week in the journal Cell Reports . "Reptiles are very understudied in terms of their reproductive biology and embryonic development," Douglas Menke, study co-author and an associate professor in the department of genetics at Georgia, said in a news release . "There are no good methods to manipulate embryos like we can easily do with mammals, fish or amphibians. To our knowledge, no other lab in the world has produced a genetically altered reptile." To produce mutant offspring, scientists inject a gene-editing solution into a newly fertilized egg or single-cell embryo. The early intervention allows the...

ASHEBORO — The NC Zoo just completed its fourth successful season of “head-starting” an army (or group) of one of North Carolina’s rarest amphibians, the Carolina gopher frog, in partnership with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC). “We recently released around 325 Carolina gopher froglets, which brings our total number of froglets released into the wild since 2016 to nearly 800,” said Curator of Herpetology Dustin Smith at the NC Zoo. The rare and secretive Carolina gopher frog resembles a toad and lives primarily in long-leaf pine savannas of the Sandhills area of North Carolina. The frogs have now been listed as endangered by the NCWRC, as populations have dwindled from 30 habitats to only six in the state. The NC Zoo has been “head starting” the frogs to grow their populations in the wild. Zoo staff have been collecting Carolina gopher frog eggs from the wild to the “tadpole nursery” at the NC Zoo, where they are given a “head start,” safe from predators, habitat de...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Reptiles and Amphibians Are Michelle’s Favorites at Burpee    MyStateline.com Anne always brings by the coolest of visitors to introduce us to. Wanna visit them at Burpee? The clock's ticking so make your plans now at www.burpee.org. https://ift.tt/2PiBWLI

A strange fungal disease is killing frogs and other amphibians in Australia and other parts of the world. Never fear, though – ANU scientists are on the case to stop the killing spree. Will Wright and Peter O’Rourke report. As far as deaths go, it doesn’t get much more horrible than having your skin being slowly eaten away. This is the harsh reality for many amphibians stricken with an infectious disease caused by the chytrid fungus. The disease – chytridiomycosis – is behind the decline of at least 40 frog species in Australia during the past 30 years, including seven extinctions. For the first time, an international team of scientists led by ANU has quantified the global scale of impact of chytridiomycosis on amphibians. They found the disease has caused dramatic population declines in more than 500 amphibian species, including 90 extinctions, across the globe over the past 50 years. The worst affected parts of the world are Australia, Central America and South America. Lead re...

If you think today’s roads are bad, check out Portsmouth Street from a century ago. “Digging down, about 5 feet below existing grade, we found the old wooden road. It was wooden planks placed to cross the stream, probably over 100 years ago,” said Martha Drukker, an engineer for the city of Concord who is the project leader on a very interesting culvert replacement. Plunging down a 5-foot embankment to Mill Brook and then heading back up again on the other side must have been a chore, which is why there has been a culvert there for decades, carrying the road over the waterway that leads into a marsh on the east bank of Merrimack River, near Merrill Park in Concord. That culvert was a standard 48-inch-diameter corrugated pipe until recently when it was replaced with a complex structure that reflects how the much-overlooked culvert has become a focus of municipal efforts to prepare for the extremes of climate change while doing less damage to wildlife. “They’re trying to work with c...

The Agriculture Ministry is urging the public not to feed the wildlife when they visit forest parks as this not only poses risks to the animals but creates problems. In a post on its Facebook page, the ministry noted during visits to parks, many people enjoy  contact with the animals and birds by feeding them, believing that this helps. But the truth is that food supply poses risks to the animals well meaning individuals want to help. The problems and risks are as follows: 1. Inappropriate food – animal health risk Human food is not suitable for wildlife and can cause health problems for animals and birds. Aquatic Birds, for example, feed on a variety of natural food, such as algae, seeds, insects, small fish and amphibians, worms and other invertebrates. These foods are naturally available in the right ratio of carbohydrates and proteins and provide the vitamins, calcium and other minerals that birds need. The bread people give them contains carbs, but a little other nutrit...

LEWISTON, Maine (WMTW)- Fans of reptiles, amphibians, and other animals were on sale for the public today at the Maine Reptile Expo in Lewiston. There was a large selection to choose from and attendees got to get up close and personal and learn more about them. Organizers wanted to showcase the reptiles because of their uniqueness and the interest they bring to many people. There were plenty of photo opportunities, plus there was a new kid zone where children could draw and face paint. https://ift.tt/2U4hv3P

When herpetologist Andrés Charrier journeyed with some colleagues to a stream outside the city of Calama in northern Chile about six weeks ago, he was hoping to find the creek bustling with hopping inhabitants. The snaking waterway in the heart of the Atacama Desert is the world’s only known refuge for Loa water frogs ( Telmatobius dankoi ), a critically endangered species that Charrier and long-time collaborator Gabriel Lobos have been studying since 2013. But when the team arrived, they found the creek almost completely dry. Charrier was hoping to show his colleagues a critically endangered Loa water frog (like the one pictured). Instead they were met with the site of an almost-dry creek. © National Zoo of Chile “It was like a bomb went off in front of my eyes,” Charrier told Global Wildlife Conservation . “The grasses were dry and brown and we didn’t even find the carcasses of frogs, which means that it had been dry for a very, very long time … I have been wor...