How extreme weather threatens amphibians

A new study reveals that climate extremes—heat waves, droughts, and cold spells—are rapidly intensifying and exposing a significant percentage of the world’s amphibian species to increased risk of extinction. The research highlights regions like Madagascar, the Amazon Basin, and Europe as hotspots and connects these extreme weather events to observed declines in amphibian conservation status.

Read the full article at https://www.paperleap.com/blog/articles/how-extreme-weather-threatens-amphibians-0cccub

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
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Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, ready, let's start. What happens to a frog when
its pond dries up months too soon, or when a
week long heat wave bakes the forest floor. Unlike us,
infigians don't have the luxury of turning up the air
conditioner or finding bottled water at the store. Their lives

(00:49):
are bound tightly to the rhythms of temperature and rainfall,
and now, as climate change fuels more frequent and intense
heat waves, cold snaps, and draft amphibians are being pushed
into crisis. A new study published in Conservation Biology by
researchers at gothe University Frankfurt and the Fraunhofer Institute in

(01:11):
Germany takes a hard look at just how exposed amphibians
are to these climate extremes. The team consisting of Eventomy,
Francisco Sylvester Jonas, Jordan Henner Hollert, and Lisa Schulte analyzed
global climate records spanning forty years and match them against

(01:32):
the ranges of more than seven thousand amphibian species worldwide.
Their conclusion is that vast numbers of frogs, salamanders, and sicilians,
the lesser known burrowing amphibians, now live in regions where
extreme weather is rapidly intensifying. Amphibians act as the climate

(01:53):
censors of nature, with thin, permeable skin that absorbs moisture
from their surroundings. They thrive on only in environments that
balance water and warmth just right. A temporary pond that
evaporates a few weeks early can doom an entire generation
of tadpoles. A sudden cold spell can suppress their immune systems,

(02:14):
leaving the open to deadly fungal infections. Even short lived
heat waves can kill larvae outright or cause bizarre side
effects like sex reversal. It's no surprise, then, that amphibians
are the most threatened group of vertebrates on Earth. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN estimates that forty

(02:36):
one percent of amphibian species are at risk of extinction.
For decades, scientists have pointed to habitat loss, disease, and
pollution as major culprits. Now, extreme climate events are joining
that list with increasing force. The research team took a
systematic approach using NASA's Maratu climate data sets and the

(02:58):
Standardized Precipitation EVAPPO Transpiration Index, or a drought tracker. They
mapped where heat waves, droughts, and cold spells have intensified
since nineteen eighty. They then overlaid these maps on IUCN's
global amphibian distribution data covering seven thousand, two hundred two species.

(03:18):
To count as exposed, a species had to have at
least half of its habitat overlapping with zones where extreme
events have become much more frequent. By this measure, exposure
is extremely high. Specifically, forty percent of amphibian species are
now exposed to heat waves, sixteen percent are exposed to drought,

(03:39):
and three percent are increasing cold spells. The geography is
uneven tropical frogs in the Amazon Basin and madagascon salamanders
in Europe, and various Amphibians in Central and South America
emerge as especially vulnerable. In some of these regions, nearly
every species is exposed to at least one one type

(04:00):
of extreme event. The study highlights several regions where exposure
is nearly universal. Let's look at them individually. In Madagascar,
the island's iconic frog family Mantileetti is in deep trouble.
Almost all of its one.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Hundred and fifteen species are exposed to more frequent heat waves,
and half are also threatened by worsening drought. In the
Amazon Basin and Atlantic Forest South America, which are home
to diverse frog families, these forests have seen sharp increases
in both heat waves and droughts. In Europe, salamanders long

(04:37):
thought of as cold agaptid, are now at risk from
intensifying droughts. Many rely on small ponds and streams that
are drying earlier and more often. Finally, the Southern Cone
region Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay has seen more cold spells,
not fewer. Local frog families like Rhino Germatidae and Batriclidie

(05:00):
are caught between cold stress and fungal disease outbreaks. Numbers
are one thing, But do these weather shifts actually affect survival?
The team dug into IUCN's Global Amphibian Assessment data, comparing
conservation status changes over time. They found that since two
thousand four, species living in areas with more heat waves

(05:22):
and droughts were significantly more likely to be uplisted, that is,
moved into a higher risk category for extinction. In earlier
decades nineteen eighty to two thousand four, the main threat
was disease, particularly Kittrid fungus, but from two thousand four
to twenty twenty two, climate change and specifically extreme events

(05:44):
emerged as a leading driver of decline. Amphibians play outsized
roles in ecosystems. They keep insect populations in check, recycle nutrients,
and serve as food for countless other animals, lose them
and entire food webs wobble. The author suggest practical steps
to prevent losing families of amphibians, For instance, creating shaded

(06:07):
and humid refuges in forests, protecting riparian zones, digging small ponds,
or even artificially irrigating breeding sites could buffer amphibians against
the worst extremes. One striking example is the Keihansi spray
toad in Tanzania saved from extinction by a system that
mimicked the natural mist of its lost waterfall habitat. More broadly,

(06:31):
conserving intact habitats remains key forests, wetlands, and streams naturally
regulate local temperatures in moisture, softening the blow of extreme weather.
That's it for this episode of the paper Leap podcast.
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