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Why Do Amphibians Matter?

AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION WFS 433/533

BY DAVIS CARTER

Presentation Objective

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

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)

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?

Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.

Importance of Amphibians: Pathos

Amphibian Declines

•  6.9% (386 species) of frogs could become extinct within the century (Alroy 2015)

•  Current extinction rates are 211X background rate (McCallum 2007)

Measure of Threat Effect on Amphibian Species

Threatened 32.5% (1856:5743)

Species with Pop Declines 43.2% (2468:5743)

Critically endangered 7.4% (427:5743)

Species poorly understood 22.5% (1294:5473)

Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.

Importance of Amphibians: Pathos

No more summertime chorus

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Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.

Importance of Amphibians: Pathos

Measure of Threat Effect on

Threatened 32.5% (1

s could Species with Pop Declines 43.2% (2 e century Critically endangered 7.4% (4

Species poorly understood 22.5% (1

e 211X 7)

Amphibian Species

856:5743)

468:5743)

27:5743)

294:5473)

No more summertime chorus

Amphibian Declines No more catching

•  6.9s%ala(m38a6ndspeerscinietsh)eocfrefreokg become extinct within th (Alroy 2015)

•  Current extinction rates ar background rate (McCallum 200

Goodbye Kermit the frog

Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.

Importance of Amphibians: Pathos

No more catching salamanders in the creek

Pathos: An appeal to the audiences emotion.

Importance of Amphibians: Pathos

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)

Food, fresh water, fiber and medicine

Purification, erosion control, climate control, pest species regulation

recreation, religion, spirituality and aesthetics

Nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production and other ecosystem functions

Provision

Regulating

Culture

Support

Provisioning Services

Major Consumers •  France •  Belgium •  Luxembourg •  Singapore •  Hong Kong •  United States

Major Exporters •  Indonesia •  India •  Brazil

Provision Services Gastric Br

African C

ooding Frog lawed Frog

Medicine

•  Potential stomach acid medicines

•  Pregnancy Tests

•  Limb Regeneration

Axolotl

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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)

Red-eyed Tree Frog (Litoria chloris )

Familiar Species with Antimicrobial Peptide Secretions 1.  Lithobates areolatus (8 known)(Ali, Lips et al. 2002)

2.  Lithobates catesbeianus (9 known)

3.  Lithobates pipiens

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

Disease Vector Control Mole salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)

Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)

Regulating Services

Disease Vector Control Mole salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)

Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)

Regulating Services

Disease Vector Control Mole salamander (Ambystoma 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.

Supporting Services

Aquatic Ecosystems

Primary Consumers Detritivores Predators Cannibals

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Supporting Services

Organic Mass

Inorganic sediments Primary Production

Aquatic Ecosystems Tropical Stream Ecosystems(Connelly, Pringle et al. 2008)

Standing algal crop

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

•  Help cycle Na

•  Sink for Ca, Mg, K, P, N, S and Zn (Burton and Likens 1975)

Invertebrates Leaf litter breakdown

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 standing crop, amphibians play a significant role in efficiently converting invertebrates into food for higher trophic levels.

Central Trophic Level

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Assigning a Monetary Value to Amphibians

Site: Ellenton Bay, SC Animals Captured: 392,605

Dominant Species: Southern Leopard Frog

Value: $3,605,848 (DeGregorio, Willson et al. 2014)

Site: Charlotte, NC Animals Captured: 848,824

Dominant Species: Eastern Newt

Value: $6,021,007 (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.

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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.

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. 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. Hocking, D. J., and K. J. Babbitt. 2014. AMPHIBIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 9:1- 17.

McCallum, M. L. 2007. Amphibian Decline or Extinction? Current Declines Dwarf Background Extinction Rate. Journal of Herpetology 41:483-491.

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. Seale, D. B. 1980. Influence of Amphibian Larvae on Primary Production, Nutrient Flux, and Competition in a Pond Ecosystem. Ecology 61:1531-1550.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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?