| Decline in
amphibian populations no longer in doubt
Jeff
Houlahan
U of O lead
research team produces the world's first definitive study of amphibian
population decline
(OTTAWA) April
11, 2000 - In a study
published in Nature, a multinational research team lead by
University of Ottawa researcher, Jeff Houlahan, has demonstrated
conclusively for the first time a global decline in the population of
amphibians. Until now, much of the evidence has been anecdotal and
scientists have only been able to analyse data in specific regions, and by
extrapolation infer a decline in the global amphibian population.
Houlahan and his
colleagues have shown without question that populations of amphibians such
as frogs and salamanders have declined in the last forty years. The study
also concludes that the decline has slowed in the last decade, and that
the most difficult period for amphibians was the late 1950's and early
1960's.
"The most
serious population decline may have occurred long before scientists
noticed and sounded the alarm," says Houlahan. "Furthermore,
though the sample size in the 1960's is small, the decline is yet another
indicator of the long-term decline in biodiversity on this planet."
Houlahan worked
with Dr. C. Scott Findlay, also of the University of Ottawa department of
Biology, Benedikt R. Schmidt of the University of Zurich, Andrea Meyer of
the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, and Saergius Kuzmin of the Russian
Academy of Sciences.
Houlahan, a
doctoral candidate in biology, credits the Internet as the most important
research tool at his disposal for the project. More than 200 researchers
from 37 countries and eight regions contributed data on 157 species for
936 separate populations of amphibians. "A large part of the data was
compiled through e-mail. Researchers from around the world provided
information. We believe this is most exhaustive study to date, and without
the Internet, this would have been impossible."
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