2/28/17
Why Do Amphibians Matter?
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION WFS 433/533 BY DAVIS CARTER
Presentation Objective
My goal is to give each of you the information to effectively explain why amphibians are important to an audience regardless of the audiences’ education, background or values. Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle’s Ingredients of Persuasion • Ethos- Convince the audience you a credible source • Pathos- Appeal to the audience’s emotions • Logos- Use logical arguments to persuade the audience that your argument is correct
Your Audience Matters u Who are you talking to ?
u Try and imagine what might matter most to them
u Tailor your argument to them
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Importance of Amphibians: Ethos
Ethos How can you explain to someone you are a knowledgeable source of amphibian information?
Importance of Amphibians: Pathos
Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.
Amphibian Declines Measure of Threat Effect on Amphibian Species Threatened 32.5% (1856:5743) • 6.9% (386 species) of frogs could Species with Pop Declines 43.2% (2468:5743) become extinct within the century Critically endangered 7.4% (427:5743) (Alroy 2015) Species poorly understood 22.5% (1294:5473)
• Current extinction rates are 211X background rate (McCallum 2007)
Importance of Amphibians: Pathos
Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.
No more summertime chorus
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Importance of Amphibians: Pathos
Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.
No more summertime chorus Goodbye Kermit the frog
Amphibian Declines Measure of Threat Effect on Amphibian Species No more catching Threatened 32.5% (1 856:5743) s ala m and ers in thecre ek • 6.9% ( 38 6 sp ecies)offr og s could Species with Pop Declines 43.2% (2 468:5743) become extinct within th e century (Alroy 2015) Critically endangered 7.4% (427:5743)
Species poorly understood 22.5% (1 294:5473)
• Current extinction rates ar e 211X
background rate (McCallum 200 7)
Importance of Amphibians: Pathos
Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.
No more catching salamanders in the creek
Importance of Amphibians: Pathos
Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.
Goodbye Kermit the frog
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Importance of Amphibians: Logos Ecosystem Services “These services are the components of ecosystems that influence human well- being.” (Hocking and Babbitt 2014) Provision Food, fresh water, fiber and medicine Regulating Purification, erosion control, climate control, pest species regulation Culture recreation, religion, spirituality and aesthetics
Support Nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production and other ecosystem functions
Provisioning Services
Major Consumers • France • Belgium • Luxembourg • Singapore • Hong Kong • United States
Major Exporters • Indonesia • India • Brazil
Gastric Br oodingAxolo tFrogl
Provision Services
Medicine
• Potential stomach
acid medicines African C lawed Frog
• Pregnancy Tests
• Limb Regeneration
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Provision Services Medicine: Antimicrobial Secretions inhibit HIV (VanCompernolle, Taylor et al. 2005)
Red-eyed Tree Frog (Litoria chloris )
Provision Services Medicine: Antimicrobial Secretions inhibit HIV (VanCompernolle, Taylor et al. 2005)
Familiar Species with Antimicrobial Peptide Secretions 1. Lithobates areolatus (8 known)(Ali, Lips et al. 2002)
2. Lithobates catesbeianus (9 known)
3. Lithobates pipiens Red-eyed Tree Frog (Litoria chloris ) 4. Lithobates sphenocephala
5. Lithobates clamitans
6. Lithobates palustris
Provision Services
Medicine: Pain killers Phantasmal poison frog (Epipedobates tricolor)
Dendrobatidae
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Regulating Services Mole salamander (Ambystoma Disease Vector Control talpoideum)
Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
Regulating Services Mole salamander (Ambystoma Disease Vector Control talpoideum)
Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
Regulating Services Mole salamander (Ambystoma Disease Vector Control talpoideum)
Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
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Regulating Services
Invertebrate Pest Control • Unknown degree of control
• Evidence of soy bean best control in Argentina Rhinella arenarum Leptodactylus latinasus Leptodactylus chaquensis Physalaemus albonotatus
78% 48% 44% 21%
Regulating Services
Pollinator Control (Valencia-Aguilar, Cortés-Gómez et al. 2013) Many frogs prey upon pollinators meaning they might play a role in pollinator densities
Seed Dispersal (Da Silva and De Britto-Pereira 2006) Xenohyla truncate u Feeds on several varieties of fruits and might aid in seed dispersal.
Primary Supporting Consumers Detritivores Services Predators Cannibals Aquatic Ecosystems
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Supporting Services
Aquatic Ecosystems
Tropical Stream Ecosystems(Connelly, Pringle et al. 2008)
Standing algal crop
Organic Mass
Primary Inorganic sediments Production
Supporting Services
Lentic Systems (Seale 1980)
Reduced suspended particles
Reduced standing algal crop
Reduced Primary Productivity
Supportive Services
Nutrient Cycling in Aquatic Sytems Salamanders are a significant source of nutrients in streams (Milanovich 2010)
19-33% of stream phosphorus in Appalachian Headwaters
7.79g/ha of phosophurs in salamanders> that of birds and small mammals combined (Burton and Likens 1975)
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Supportive Services
Nutrient Cycling studies of Plethdon cinereus • Reduce decomposition rates
Invertebrates Leaf litter breakdown
• Help cycle Na
• Sink for Ca, Mg, K, P, N, S and Zn (Burton and Likens 1975)
Supportive Services Biomass
• 5 salamander species had higher biomass (1770g.ha) than all the birds visiting a wetland (1770g/ha)(Burton and Likens 1975) • Second Highest standing caloric crop of any animal in southern Appalachians (Deer 1st)
In an area of NC there were an estimated 18,486 salamanders/ha JUST IN RIPARIAN HABITAS (Petranka and Murray 2001)
Supportive Services Biomass
With such significant biomass and caloric Central Trophic standing crop, amphibians Level play a significant role in efficiently converting invertebrates into food for higher trophic levels.
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Assigning a Monetary Value to Amphibians
Site: Ellenton Bay, SC Site: Charlotte, NC Animals Captured: Animals Captured: 392,605 848,824 Dominant Species: Dominant Species: Southern Leopard Frog Eastern Newt Value: $3,605,848 Value: $6,021,007 (DeGregorio, Willson et al. 2014) (Witczak and Dorcas 2009)
References
u Ali, M. F., K. R. Lips, F. C. Knoop, B. Fritzsch, C. Miller, and J. M. Conlon. 2002. Antimicrobial peptides and protease inhibitors in the skin secretions of the crawfish frog, Rana areolata. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Proteins and Proteomics 1601:55-63.
u Alroy, J. 2015. Current extinction rates of reptiles and amphibians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112:13003-13008.
u Da Silva, H. R., and M. C. De Britto-Pereira. 2006. How much fruit do fruit-eating frogs eat? An investigation on the diet of Xenohyla truncata (Lissamphibia: Anura: Hylidae). Journal of Zoology 270:692-698.
u DeGregorio, B. A., J. D. Willson, M. E. Dorcas, and J. W. Gibbons. 2014. Commercial Value of Amphibians Produced From an Isolated Wetland. The American Midland Naturalist 172:200-204.
u Hocking, D. J., and K. J. Babbitt. 2014. AMPHIBIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 9:1- 17.
u McCallum, M. L. 2007. Amphibian Decline or Extinction? Current Declines Dwarf Background Extinction Rate. Journal of Herpetology 41:483-491.
u Petranka, J. W., and S. S. Murray. 2001. Effectiveness of Removal Sampling for Determining Salamander Density and Biomass: A Case Study in an Appalachian Streamside Community. Journal of Herpetology 35:36-44.
u Seale, D. B. 1980. Influence of Amphibian Larvae on Primary Production, Nutrient Flux, and Competition in a Pond Ecosystem. Ecology 61:1531-1550.
u Stuart, S. N., J. S. Chanson, N. A. Cox, B. E. Young, A. S. L. Rodrigues, D. L. Fischman, and R. W. Waller. 2004. Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide. Science 306:1783-1786.
u Valencia-Aguilar, A., A. M. Cortés-Gómez, and C. A. Ruiz-Agudelo. 2013. Ecosystem services provided by amphibians and reptiles in Neotropical ecosystems. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 9:257-272.
u VanCompernolle, S. E., R. J. Taylor, K. Oswald-Richter, J. Jiang, B. E. Youree, J. H. Bowie, M. J. Tyler, J. M. Conlon, D. Wade, C. Aiken, T. S. Dermody, V. N. KewalRamani, L. A. Rollins-Smith, and D. Unutmaz. 2005. Antimicrobial Peptides from Amphibian Skin Potently Inhibit Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Transfer of Virus from Dendritic Cells to T Cells. Journal of Virology 79:11598-11606. u Whiles, M. R., K. R. Lips, C. M. Pringle, S. S. Kilham, R. J. Bixby, R. Brenes, S. Connelly, J. C. Colon-Gaud, M. Hunte-Brown, A. D. Huryn, C. Montgomery, and S. Peterson. 2006. The effects of amphibian population declines on the structure and function of Neotropical stream ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4:27-34.
u Milanovich, J.R. 2010. Modeling the current and future roles of stream salamanders in headwater streams.Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA. 156 p.
Questions?
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