We just received this note from SAVE THE FROGS!’ newest member, Hazel Richards:

“Since moving to France, a couple of years ago, my husband and I have been slowly turning our garden into one that is wildlife friendly. We have planted hedges, shrubs, a small copse of hazelnut bushes, a wildflower garden and fruit trees etc. The birds and bats seem to appreciate the increase in insects that now buzz frenetically around the plants throughout the year; As do the large family of fascinating lizards that live amongst the stones in the garden.

This year was particularly hot and dry, with little standing water anywhere locally. The birdbath was frequented by every variety of birds, insects and lizards in the area. For the first time, our garden was also visited by a frog. He was gorgeous and he has decided to stay. As a result, we are building a wildlife pond and a bog garden in the spring, that will hopefully encourage other frogs to visit, and will benefit other animals.

It was trying to find out more about our visiting frog that I came across your website. I have been interested in amphibians for a while, but the visiting frog, your website and watching David Attenborough’s DVD “Life in Cold blood” has made me feel that interest alone is not enough. We need to do something as a species to save these incredible and vital creatures. In some small way, I hope that my membership to ‘Save the frogs’ and the changes that John and I are making to the garden and to our lives may help.

Thank you for everything that you and your team are doing.
Kind Regards,
Hazel Richards

ClearChannel has generously offered SAVE THE FROGS! free advertisement space in five major U.S. airports: Chicago O’Hare, Midway, Denver International, St. Louis, and Detroit. But we have to pay the costs of printing the posters, and it’s not cheap!

CAN YOU DONATE $20 TODAY SO THAT WE CAN GET THIS FULL-SIZE PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT UP IN AIRPORTS NATIONWIDE?

Some of these ad spots are seven feet high, so thousands of passengers, including politicians, businessmen and lobbyists will see these. The more posters we can print, the more effective our campaign will be.

If there were ever a day to take action, it’s today, the International Day of Climate Action.

Please support this effort and help us stop climate change and save Yellowstone’s frogs.
Thanks!

Oh yeah, be sure to read our page on climate change, its effect on frogs, and how you can reduce your carbon footprint!
www.savethefrogs.com/climate

While governmental action is an integral part of stopping global warming, every one of us is responsible for reducing our own carbon footprint. Here are eight easy ways you can do your part:

Turn off the lights
If you’re not in the room (or the house), you probably don’t need the lights on. Same with your office-place, and those lights in the parking lot. Try solar power for outside lights.

Don’t purchase bottled water
Plan ahead and fill your re-usable bottle. Not only is plastic produced from oil, but it takes fuel to get that bottle of water from the source to the store at which you buy it..

Eat less meat
Cows live in pastures, which means rainforests worldwide are being destroyed to make way for cows. Without the rainforests to trap carbon, we don’t stand much of a chance at fighting global warming. But that’s not it: cows, pigs, sheep and goats are responsible for about 30% of America’s methane emission — and methane is far worse for the environment than is carbon dioxide!

Take shorter showers
There is a high chance your hot water is being heated by electricity generated at a coal-fired power plant.

Don’t fly first-class
Airplanes produce significant quantities of carbon emisions, and those spacious first-class seats take up 50% more space than do normal seats. That means you’e responsible for 50% more of that plane’s carbon emissions than economy passengers.

Invest in environmentally-friendly businesses
If a company puts effort into improving their environmental practices, they likely have some information about it on their website. Do some reseach prior to investing, and then give your support to companies with positive environmental track records.

Drive less. Buy and rent smaller cars.
Eat at a restaurant closer to home, or stay home and eat. Get yourself a good book and try the local public transport sometime (it’s probably improved since the last time you used it!). And next time you buy or rent a car, go with a fuel-effcient small car unless you have a true need for a large vehicle.

Donate to SAVE THE FROGS!
Help us get our “My Ponds Are Drying Up” posters up in airports around the country so that tens of thousands of people know what climate change is doing to frogs, and so they come to the savethefrogs.com website and educate themselves on ways to reduce their carbon footprint. ClearChannel graciously donates the advertising space to SAVE THE FROGS!, but we need to pay the printing costs. Even $10 helps, so please chip in!

In terms of its effect on biodiversity, chytridiomycosis is quite possibly the worst disease in recorded history. The disease, caused by a pathogenic chytrid fungus, has caused amphibian population declines in Australia, South America, North America, Central America, New Zealand, Europe, and Africa, and is likely responsible for over 100 species extinctions since the 1970′s.

While chytridiomycosis has become a major focus of amphibian research worldwide, few herpetologists have any background in the laboratory techniques necessary to detect the chytrid fungus, and training classes are rare. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the most technologically advanced method of diagnosing chytrid infections, and the ability to perform qPCR in one’s own laboratory would both expedite the processing of samples and decrease the costs incurred by sending samples to private laboratories for diagnosis.

SAVE THE FROGS! has now made publicly and freely available a detailed protocol for the detection and quantification of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. This is the most in-depth protocol of its kind in existence, and can be found, along with accompanying slideshow, videos and supplementary materials at:
http://savethefrogs.com/chytrid/qpcr.html

The slideshow, videos, webpage and other materials were developed as part of a free course offered by SAVE THE FROGS! and the Herpetological Circle of Panama. The course, entitled “Instruction and application of quantitative PCR molecular techniques for the study of amphibian epidemics”, took place at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City on October 5th-9th 2009, and was attended by 25 scientists from Panama, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Amphibian population in all three countries have experienced severe declines in numbers due to the chytrid fungus. This course was taught in Spanish by SAVE THE FROGS! Founder & Executive Director Dr. Kerry Kriger, with the valuable assistance of Vicky Flechas of Colombia’s Universidad de Los Andes. This course effectively doubled the number of scientists on the planet capable of using quantitative PCR for the diagnosis of amphibian chytrid infections.

We plan to hold another such course in Bogota, Colombia in November of 2010.
http://savethefrogs.com/chytrid/qpcr.html