Frogs are often one of the first animals kids learn about in the United States. Cow goes moo, duck goes quack, frogs go ribbit, and so on.
A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change has shown that these familiar, croaking friends are more endangered by the warming planet than ever before.
What's happening?
An international team of researchers has found that as global temperatures warm, frog habitats that are typically wet are drying out and becoming too arid for survival. The findings point to a significant amount of frog habitats — at least 7% and up to one-third — becoming unlivable within the next 75 years, Salon reported.
According to the outlet, the study also found that an even greater percentage of total habitat — between 15% and 36% — is likely to see difficult drought conditions due to the more frequent heat waves caused by rising global temperatures.
Why is frogs being at risk important?
When one species struggles, another will also feel it; such is the way of the natural world. That can even mean a ripple effect that spans from frogs to humans. Plus, amphibians are not the only group of species at risk as the planet heats up beyond its natural level.
"To understand and manage the effects of climate change on biodiversity, we must integrate knowledge on biologically relevant processes for different types of organism in different habitats," the authors of the study affirmed, per Salon.
What's being done to save frog habitat?
Part of what accelerates the threats to frog survival are the ways their homelands are used for human houses and commercial buildings, Salon explained.
That's why conservation efforts that can preserve tracts of land that are ideal habitats for a specific species are so powerful — no fast-food chain or McMansion will take their place.
Other ways to preserve natural habitats are in all the small, yet mighty, actions individuals can do to lower their environmental impact, whether that be the products one buys or how one heats their home. Asking the same of bigger companies goes a long way too.
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