Why are frogs important?

Frogs are an integral part of the food web

Tadpoles keep waterways clean by feeding on algae. Adult frogs eat large quantities of insects, including disease vectors that can transmit fatal illnesses to humans (i.e. mosquitoes/malaria). Frogs also serve as an important food source to a diverse array of predators, including dragonflies, fish, snakes, birds and even monkeys. Thus, the disappearance of frog populations disturbs an intricate food web, and results in negative impacts that cascade through the ecosystem.

Frogs are bioindicators

Most frogs require suitable habitat in both the terrestrial and aquatic environments, and have permeable skin that can easily absorb toxic chemicals. These traits make frogs especially susceptible to environmental disturbances, and thus frogs are considered accurate indicators of environmental stress: the health of frogs is thought to be indicative of the health of the biosphere as a whole. Frogs are currently disappearing at a more rapid rate than any animals in the past 65 million years: this should serve as an alarm call to humans that something is drastically wrong in the environment.

Humans use frogs in medicinal research

Frogs produce a wide array of skin secretions, many of which have significant potential to improve human health through their use as pharmaceuticals. Approximately 10% of Nobel prizes in physiology and medicine have resulted from investigations that used frogs. When a frog species disappears, so does any promise it holds for improving human medicine.

Frogs are cool!

bioindicator Frogs provide a source of enjoyment and cultural fascination to humans and it would be morally irresponsible to allow them to continue on their current extinction trajectory. Check out our Cool Frog Facts page.

Summary

Frogs are cool and we need them! They need our help too, so let’s SAVE THE FROGS!

Bioindicators