BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE TECHNICIANS (up to 4) needed for ongoing studies of
amphibians as part of a USGS research program at Yosemite National Park.
One or two 2-person field crews will be hired to conduct visual
encounter surveys throughout Yosemite NP, and occasionally in other
parts of California.  There may be opportunities to participate in
related research on amphibian chytrid fungus and pesticides.
(more…)

Ph.D. Opportunity with the Amphibian Research Group at the University of Newcastle
We are seeking a PhD student to conduct a research project within the Amphibian Research Group at the University of Newcastle, under the supervision of Prof. Michael Mahony and Dr John Clulow. The prospective student will join a large and dedicated team of scientists and students working in the fields of amphibian ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation. Funding is available for the following project:

Investigations into the factors limiting green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) survival
The green and golden bell frog has undergone a widespread range contraction over the past 30 years and is now considered endangered in NSW and threatened nationally. Currently this species persists in less than 10% of its former range in a series of highly isolated sites dotted along the eastern Australian coastline. (more…)

SAVE THE FROGS! has officially opened its first international branch, SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana, based in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa. Africa is fraught with both social and environmental problems, and Ghana is an excellent location from which to initiate SAVE THE FROGS! programs that we plan to spread far and wide across the African continent. SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger and Vice President Jonathan Tourzan were in Ghana for the month of September implementing SAVE THE FROGS! programs in schools and universities, and training SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana’s Executive Director & Ecologist Gilbert Adum to lead Africa’s amphibious revolution.

We are extremely excited about SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana, which is already receiving widespread support from Ghana’s people, and which will serve as a model for future SAVE THE FROGS! branches in many countries around the world. Ghana is an extremely poor country with very few internal funding opportunities and thus SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana relies on your support — wherever you are in the world — in order to get this much needed project off the ground. Twenty dollars goes a long way in Ghana, so we can assure you that your donation (which can be placed through STF! America) will help save many frogs!

SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger speaks to 7th graders in Kpetoe, Volta Region, eastern Ghana:

Meet Gilbert Adum, Executive Director of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana:

We’ve added photos of 18 species of Ghanaian frogs and toads to our brand new Frogs & Toads of Ghana webpage. Be sure to check out the SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana page as well!

In an effort to raise awareness of the plight of amphibians and to promote the 2nd Annual Save The Frogs Day, Save The Frogs Founder & Executive Director Dr. Kerry Kriger will be lecturing on the amphibian extinction crisis throughout California this spring. Most of these events are open to the public, so please pass this message on to your friends in California. You can learn more about each event by visiting the Save The Frogs Events Page:
http://savethefrogs.com/events

March 21st: Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz Main Library

March 22nd: Watsonville, CA
Amphibian Conservation Summit
Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve

March 31st: Santa Cruz, CA
Ecology Action Headquarters

April 5th: Puerto Rico Radio WALO
This interview will be in Spanish (with English translations), and will be accessible live via streaming radio by clicking the “Audio en Vivo” link at the right side of the WALO Radio website.

April 7th: Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz Public Library

April 10th: San Mateo, CA
Herp World Expo

April 11th: San Mateo, CA
Herp World Expo

April 17th: Santa Cruz, CA
Earth Day Santa Cruz 2010

April 18th: San Francisco, CA
California Academy of Sciences

April 22nd (Earth Day): San Francisco, CA
California Academy of Sciences

April 24th (Earth Day Observed): San Francisco, CA
California Academy of Sciences

April 30th (Save The Frogs Day!) – Watsonville, CA
Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve

We’ll be announcing more events shortly!
Event details are at: http://savethefrogs.com/events

Later this year we will offer a training course for university students to enable them to give high-quality presentations on amphibian extinctions to high school and middle school students, thus dramatically increasing our ability to reach large numbers of students.

Save The Frogs is a grassroots effort: please help us fund this class and the related materials! Thanks!

CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas

http://www.cnah.org

29 June 2009

POST-DOC POSITION IN AMPHIBIAN ECOTOXICOLOGY

The Laboratory of Fish and Amphibian Ethology of the University of Liege (Belgium) is
accepting applications for a post-doctoral fellow for a 2-year project on evolutionary
ecology and ecotoxicology of frogs. This project will be based mainly on the egg and
tadpole stage, but will involve field sampling, young metamorphs, and breeding of adults.
This is a laboratory study mainly designed on behavioural patterns, using modern tools,
but also on morphology and life-history traits in the presence or absence of stressing
factors such as predators and pollutants. The post-doctoral fellow would be welcome to
adapt the design of the experiments in the framework of this topic. He/she will have two
controlled laboratory rooms available for his/her experiments and may supervise MSc
students.

The applications must contain a curriculum vitae with a complete list of publications, if
possible including the ISI impact factors (the list should include the references of
conference abstracts) and a letter of motivation. The deadline for the pre-selection is July
31, 2009. The selected candidate would be contacted in August to submit the final
proposal by early September. The post-doctorate, if accepted, would start on January 1,
2010. This post-doctoral position would be compensated by the FRS-FNRS (Belgian Funds
for Research) and be part of an on-going project with colleagues working on physiology
and chemistry.

The candidate needs to have completed a PhD thesis in a related topic, which he/she
would have presented less than 6 years ago. He/she must not have been a resident in
Belgium and he/she must speak English and/or French.

For further information, candidates should contact:

Mathieu Denoel, Ph. D.
Behavioural Biology Unit
University of Liege
22 Quai Van Beneden
B – 4020 Liege, Belgium
Mathieu.Denoel@ulg.ac.be

http://www.etho.ulg.ac.be/denoel/home.html

by SAVE THE FROGS! Founder & Executive Director Dr. Kerry Kriger

From the fossil record, we know that frogs naturally go extinct at a rate of about one species every 500 years. But in the last 30 years, up to 200 species have gone extinct, and a far greater number of species have dwindled significantly in population size. The current rate of frog extinctions is thus 3,000 times faster than than it should be, and we stand to lose at least one-third of the world’s 6,485 amphibian species in our lifetime if we don’t work swiftly to stop the extinctions.

In no particular order, here are the top ten steps that must be taken to prevent further frog extinctions.

(1) We need to minimize the damage being done by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which is being transported globally via the amphibian pet trade, food trade, lab trade, zoo trade and bait trade, and is responsible for up to 100 amphibian extinctions worldwide in the last three decades. We must also prevent future extinctions due to other diseases. To accomplish this we need to implement and enforce a virtually complete ban on all unnecessary long-distance trade and transport of amphibians (i.e. dismantle the food trade, bait trade and pet trade, though captive-bred, locally purchased species would be fine). Zoos and laboratories that require amphibians from afar would need to drastically reduce their number of shipments, and implement stringent quarantine/testing procedures. It should be clear that we currently lack the money, the equipment and the trained personnel to conduct disease testing on the millions of amphibians that are transported inter-continentally each year. Furthermore, no diagnostic tests are perfect, and it is impossible to test for diseases that have yet to be identified by science. Chytrid was causing extinctions for decades prior to its discovery by scientists. The continued intercontinental trade and transport of amphibians will inevitably result in future amphibian extinctions.

(2) We need a drastic reduction in the amount of pesticides and other pollutants, including coal combustion residues. The millions of tons of these chemicals that we put in the atmosphere each year cause gonadal deformities, limb deformities, mouthpart deformities, decreased immune response and other problems.

(3) We need to ban the stocking of non-native fish as many amphibians have evolved in fishless areas and lack appropriate defenses. Many of these invasive fish species are voracious predators of amphibian eggs and tadpoles, and the fish and frogs cannot co-exist.

(4) We need laws protecting ephemeral wetlands (wetlands that hold water for only a portion of the year), which currently have few legal protections. Amphibians like these fishless habitats, but humans drain them in order to create land for house, parking lots and shopping malls.

(5) We need to ban the import of any wild-caught amphibian species, not solely because they spread disease, but because many of them are taken out of the wild from developing countries with few regulations, and the harvest is unsustainable.

(6) We need appropriate underpasses/overpasses or some means of dealing with amphibian road mortality in areas where this is a problem. I conservatively estimate that 60 million amphibians are killed by cars each year. (If each of the world’s 600 million vehicles hit only one amphibian per decade, this would be the case).

(7) We need funding and logistical support for the hundreds of critically endangered amphibian species that require and lack any captive breeding assistance.

(8) We need immediate action to combat global warming and climate change, which is drying waterbodies and cloud forests on which amphibians depend, and is causing the decline of mountaintop amphibian species that are unable to move further up the mountain to cool off (they are already at the top and have nowhere left to go). Global warming also weakens amphibian’s immune defenses and can alter host-parasite interactions.

(9) We need to halt the destruction of Earth’s remaining wilderness areas and restore habitats where possible. The rainforests of the world are being converted to agricultural areas or timber. Closer to home we have rampant urban expansion that destroys habitat and fragments remaining populations, leaving them more susceptible to inbreeding and related problems.

(10) We need to significantly increase the number of herpetologists, and conservationists in general. There are approximately 2,000 endangered amphibian species, but only about 2,000 full-time herpetologists. We simply do not have enough herpetologists to (a) determine the precise threats to individual species, and (b) implement the actions necessary to protect those species. This will only be possible with an increase in the number of scholarships and grants available, and through improved environmental education programs at the elementary, middle and high school level, which will produce undergraduates interested in pursuing careers in environmental conservation.

NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
13 February 2009

Houghton Mifflin Company, publishers of the Peterson Field Guide series, announces

A Great New Book

THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA

by Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson
with a Foreword by Joseph T. Collins

“About a hundred species of frogs and toads are found on the North American continent north of Mexico, providing a diversity of seasonal calls that are fascinating to most people but often difficult to sort out. Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson have addressed this situation in an exemplary fashion, with excellent audio recordings and exquisite photography accompanied by an informative and organized text, all bundled together in a book and compact disc that will provide hours of enjoyment for people who like to spend their time outdoors.” – from the Foreword

The CD that accompanies this book a provides a reference guide to the calls of every species covered in the book (excepting the two tailed frogs that don’t have calls), with each species introduced by common and scientific name. The disc is the perfect complement to this book.

This book may be ordered toll free at 800-225-3362

or from:

http://www.musicofnature.org/books

$19.95 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-618-66399-6
Published March 2009
343 pp.

NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas

http://www.cnah.org

11 February 2009

FIELD ASSISTANT NEEDED FOR IGUANA STUDY

When: Approximately 28 April to 15 June & 7 August to 17 September 2009

Where: Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies

Description: A field assistant is needed for a natural history study of the Lesser Antillean
Iguana (Iguana delicatissima) on the island of Dominica. The majority of fieldwork involves capturing and processing iguanas, and radio tracking over difficult and steep terrain.

Shared housing (with PI), food, and a living stipend ($500/month) will be provided.
Depending on location of embarkation, travel costs may be reimbursed.

Qualifications: Experience with radio telemetry and lizard handling preferred, but not
required. Must enjoy working outdoors and be motivated, hardworking, good-natured, and able to work well with others. Applicants must be in good physical condition and willing to work in hot and humid
climate while walking up very steep slopes. The applicant must be able to work independently and drive a manual (shift gear) car. Personal health insurance is required.

To apply: Email a letter of interest, resume or CV, and contact information for two references to:

Dr. Charles Knapp
Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species
Zoological Society of San Diego
cknapp@ufl.edu

Please put FIELD ASSISTANT in the subject line. Review of applications will continue until
the position is filled.

Oil sludge oozes into Des Plaines River
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) —
Thousands of gallons of oil sludge are being cleaned up along a 3-mile section of the Des Plaines River early Monday, following a spill a day earlier that had forced a temporary closure of the river.

About 4,500 to 6,000 gallons of sludge leaked into the river Sunday, the result of a 65,000-gallon spill from a holding tank at a Caterpillar facility in Joliet. Most of the sludge from the heavy-equipment manufacturer ended up on land.

The thousands of gallons that leaked into the river killed an unspecified number of wildlife — “nothing bigger than your hand,” mostly fish and frogs, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman William Mitchell said early Monday.

The river reopened to traffic Sunday evening, though watercraft were limited to passing through the area in single file.

The Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency were coordinating efforts to contain the spill, including the use of a containment boom and vacuum trucks.

In a written statement, Caterpillar acknowledged the spill but did not offer specifics.