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Dr. Wardenburg: The exciting thing about research is that something can be done about it
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The global decline in the population size of frogs and other amphibians has been known to researchers for some time, but the reasons are less clear. Among the reasons offered by researchers: climate change, disease and increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation and pests.
However, for many species of frogs, the main reason for population decline is their eating by new predators in their habitat. Thus, the main reason for the decline in the population of the yellow-legged mountain frog in the Sierra Nevada region is their eating by trout brought to the region for sport fishing. This is what Dr. Vance Wardenburg, a researcher from the University of Berkeley, California, discovered.
Dr. Wardenburg discovered this when he reduced the fish population in five lakes in the Sierra Nevada region. Within a year or two there were signs of the frogs returning to the lakes.
To determine the exact effect of the fish on the frogs, Wardenburg did another experiment during which he placed trout and frog eggs inside the cage. According to him, the fish ate the frogs' tadpoles "one by one".
Following the study, the US National Parks Authority began to try to reduce the fish population in the lakes. "The most exciting thing about this study," said Wardenburg, "is that it is a study on the decline of the frog population that something can be done about."
They know evolution in action
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