Amphibians threatened by global warming

Every day it seems I read some news about global warming that tells of another horrible consequence of which I wasn't previously aware. Now it's about how amphibians all over the globe are threatened. Read these excerpts from an article entitled, "EXTINCTION CRISIS FOR AMPHIBIANS":

A strange new fungus disease that kills frogs and toads and every other species of amphibian is spreading around the globe and -- combined with pollution and overdevelopment -- is driving more and more of the creatures to extinction, a coalition of the world's top biologists warns.

At least one-third of the world's known amphibians are threatened by the combination of attacks, and up to 122 species have become extinct within the past 25 years, the international team of specialists is reporting in today's edition of the journal Science.

"Amphibian declines and extinctions are global and rapid," 50 of the world's leading specialists on water-dwelling animals declared in a joint report. At least 427 species are "critically endangered," they said.
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But the fungus, a unique species called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, could start taking on a larger role in the increasing extinction because of global warming, which scientists suspect is lowering amphibians' resistance to the disease.
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The team of experts focusing more broadly on amphibian extinction estimates that nearly one-third of all 5,743 known amphibian species in the world are now threatened; more than 40 percent of all the species have suffered significant
population declines, and within the past 25 years alone, 122 species have become extinct.

"It's shocking and dismaying," said Wake. "This incredibly rapid increase in the extinction of amphibians around the world is unprecedented in my lifetime."

The class called amphibians includes not only frogs and toads, but also salamanders, newts and the little-known group of legless, worm-like creatures called caecilians. They are extremely ecologically useful because as predators they consume harmful insects by the millions; in the laboratory they are widely used for basic scientific research; their bodies can be harvested for medicines as well as food; and many instances of mass mortality have warned -- like canaries in a coal mine -- of environmental problems in the offing.

Why are we not paying attention to the canaries in the coal mine? The consequences of these extinctions are very dire.