1000 Flowers for the Planet - #477 Observe World Frog Day
Today is World Frog Day.
Frogs are a good indicator of the health of an
environment. A lack of frogs in
the ecosystem is a huge warning sign that things are not well and may need
urgent attention. Sadly, frog populations are dwindling around the world, with
a massive 200 species lost to us sine 1980. This is a serious matter. They are
affected by habitat loss, infectious disease, invasive species, climate change
and pollution of water systems (which is something we humans do very well). All
of these reasons are created by the human population.
Frogs eat mosquitoes, which is useful to us in
helping prevent the spread of diseases such as malaria. They are a food source
for other animals, such as monkeys, snakes, dragonflies, birds, beetles, fish
and more. If you take frogs out of the food chain, you affect the whole chain,
so we could expect other species to dwindle into extinction if we don’t sweat
the small stuff. Tadpoles keep water systems clean by eating algae, and this
water is often a source of drinking water for humans, so something we do want
to be clean. But frogs have permeable skin, which easily absorbs toxic
chemicals, so because we are very good at putting chemicals into our environment,
frogs are seriously affected. World Frog Day is 20 March 2015, presenting us
all with an opportunity to consider our actions and how we affect the entire
food chain of the planet, and how we are going to make things better. Starting
with frogs might be a good first step.
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