Post by glowtoad on Oct 24, 2020 22:38:22 GMT
By Helen Briggs, BBC News. Published 10 May 2019
Climate change is having an impact on frogs found in British ponds, research suggests.
A deadly frog disease is spreading due to warmer temperatures and in the next 50 years could cause entire populations to vanish, according to a study.
The virus could spell disaster for the common frog, which is a familiar sight in garden ponds and the countryside.
Amphibians have been particularly hard hit by changes in the natural world.
Four out of 10 species are on the edge of extinction globally due to factors such as disease, habitat loss and climate change.
The study provides 'strong evidence' of the impact of climate change on wildlife disease and how it might aid the spread of the virus across the UK, according to Dr Stephen Price of ZSL's Institute of Zoology.
"Climate change isn't something that's just happening in faraway places - it's something real and present that's already had hard-to-predict impacts on wildlife in our own back gardens here in the UK," he said.
The prospect of entire populations of frogs being wiped out is 'a real sadness' given the fond memories many people have of pond dipping and collecting tadpoles, he added.
Climate change is having an impact on frogs found in British ponds, research suggests.
A deadly frog disease is spreading due to warmer temperatures and in the next 50 years could cause entire populations to vanish, according to a study.
The virus could spell disaster for the common frog, which is a familiar sight in garden ponds and the countryside.
Amphibians have been particularly hard hit by changes in the natural world.
Four out of 10 species are on the edge of extinction globally due to factors such as disease, habitat loss and climate change.
The study provides 'strong evidence' of the impact of climate change on wildlife disease and how it might aid the spread of the virus across the UK, according to Dr Stephen Price of ZSL's Institute of Zoology.
"Climate change isn't something that's just happening in faraway places - it's something real and present that's already had hard-to-predict impacts on wildlife in our own back gardens here in the UK," he said.
The prospect of entire populations of frogs being wiped out is 'a real sadness' given the fond memories many people have of pond dipping and collecting tadpoles, he added.
