6 thoughts on “I’m Still Waiting, My Amphibian Friends

  1. Indeed it is more complicated than you initially said Russel. So why pretend “climate change” is a viable theory, when in fact other alternatives are much more realistic explanations and easily testible.

  2. That link doesn’t seem to work now. not sure why. the original is: Pounds, A.J. 2001 “Climate and Amphibian Declines”, Nature 410, pp 639-40. In the previous post I should have made it clea that when the ponds are only 20cm, 80% of the tadpoles get the fungus AND DIE. cheers, russel.

  3. Ah well you see it’s a bit more complicated than that. UV light retards the development of the tadpoles of amphibians of the genus Bufo, ie toads. And this makes them much more vulnerable to the chytrid fungus. And it turns out that the depth of the pools that the tadpoles swim in is a critical factor in how much UV light they receive. When the pools are deeper than than 50 cms ony 12% of the tadpoles die but when it’s only 20cm deep, 80% of the tadpoles get the fungus. Climate change resulting in less rainfall or mist means that the pools are much shallower, so the tadpoles receive more UV, which makes them more likely to die of the fungus. see the Nature article at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v410/n6829/full/410639a0.html

    cheers

    russel

  4. What a load of utter crap, the bit about frogs and toads and climate change (eeeekkk) I mean.

    Contrary to your bullshit Internet links, Russel, there is hard science suggesting the spread of an African amphibian fungus caused the decline of several frog and toad species worldwide.

    e.g. this 2004 journal article in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

    It’s quite clear from your two links, Russell, that your idea of ‘research’ was googling “Yellow Toad” and pasting the first relevant links you could find. Good one – is that how the Green Party decides its policy as well?

    Jeez.

  5. Hi Trev

    It’s interesting that you use a golden frog as an illustration, Trevor. Because the golden toad was the first documented case of the extinction of a species due to human induced climate change. see for example http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0111-frogs.html or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/328776.stm

    There are undoubtedly many more species that have fallen victim to climate change, which is one of the reasons we need to introduce things like a carbon pollution charge in order to attempt to meet our Kyoto Protocol commitments and limit human induced climate change. Remember, it’s only because of the Montreal Protocol that we were able to limit CFC production and hence the destruction of the ozone layer – otherwise we’d all be in deep trouble now with dangerous levels of UV. And it seems to be working see http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/16/1032054763580.html. Of course DuPont opposed it at the time, as did right wing libertarians I have little doubt.

    Thanks for answering the set of questions I posed when I answered your questions. I don’t think there’s any point in our continuing to carry on back and forward. I made a long statement in response to your original post and then gave honest answers to your list of questions. I trust you also gave honest answers to the questions I posed.

    I accept that you believe that there is no connection between your mysterious Zenith Applied Philosophy group and the fascist Nationalist Workers Party.

    As to your endless conspiracy theories, for goodness sake give it a rest. Stick to the ideas – play the ball not the man. I suggest you put prodigous energy and research talents into something more productive like addressing climate change.

    cheers

    russel

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