Global warming was found to be one of the elemental causes for the massive disappearance of the Sierra frogs. Global warming climate changes and too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are only some of the causes that scientists found to have caused this environmental problem.
The Current State of Global Warming
Global warming is still the “hot issue” to contend with. Recent studies of sample test plots in the Rocky Mountain meadows resulted in a dramatic loss of about 20% in the soils’ natural carbon. Ordinarily, soils are supposed to contain five times more carbon than the atmosphere. Hence, a corresponding decrease of carbon at soil level indicates a corresponding carbon dioxide increase in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The worst-case scenario presented is to repeat the results of one test plot on a global scale and the result would mean doubling the amount of carbon already present in our atmosphere. Sagebrush, a bush known to grow in dry regions has begun to replace alpine flowers. In botany, alpine plants are those that grow in high mountain zone vegetation between timberline and snowline.
In other places, tell tale signs also indicate extreme global climate changes. The 150 glaciers found in Montana’s Glacier National Park, have dwindled down to an estimated number of less than 30 glaciers. Today, only 20 percent of the legendary snows of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania remains and the expected total meltdown will be by year 2020.
Most significant of all are the fast rates by which Greenland is losing its glaciers and Arctic sea ice. Scientists see more catastrophes ahead once the meltdown reaches the Greenland ice sheets. In Arctic regions, coastal communities find that the houses, roads, and pipelines are now standing on thawing frozen grounds. Arctic residents are now seriously considering the possibilities of relocation. If the Arctic people are affected, then so are the polar bears that could no longer hunt for seals on the sea ice.
The Sierra Yellow-Legged Frogs and Other Amphibians
This sorry state in our environment is felt globally by many animals especially those that exist in a bio-diversified environment. Biodiversity is a combination of all living organisms whose co-existence in an ecosystem creates the ability of nature to forestall and recover from natural disasters. Hence, each species, no matter how small or insignificant has an important function to perform in our ecological system.
Let us take the case of the “princely” frog; time will come when future generations will wonder how a real frog looks like. Fairy tales about the “frog prince” may live on through the ages but the real life amphibian species is in danger of rapidly facing extinction. Researchers have monitored the global occurrence of massive amphibian extinction as early as the 1980’s.
Right in America’s backyard, five out of seven amphibian species found in the peaks of Sierra Nevada are highly threatened. Two of these species, the Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged frog, and the Southern Yellow-legged frog have declined in population by as much as 95 to 98 percent. Even those that inhabited the decidedly protected areas of the Yosemite National Park did not survive a disease causing fungus called “chytridiomycosis” which was discovered in Sierra Nevada in 2001.
Microbes Find New Life in Globally Warmed Temperature
As scientists have foreseen, climate changes have created an impact not only on plant and animal life but in fungi and microbes as well. As evidenced by the findings in the case of the dying frogs, even the ancient microbial species have sprung back to life brought about by the global climate changes.
Fungi are one-celled organisms that usually live as parasites. They are spore-like and we recognize them as mold, yeast or mushrooms and often times can be harmful since they are capable of carrying toxic substances. Based on researches, an increase in temperature will cause fungi decomposition to take place and will let off one-product of decomposition, carbon dioxide.
From the state of fungal decomposition, microbes or bacteria will now perform their activity of producing atmospheric gasses as well as consuming the gasses that have an effect in the climate. Their microbial activity has the capacity to bring about the incidence of diseases such as plague, cholera, Lyme disease, and West Nile Virus. These diseases accordingly link to global climate change.
As global warming has begun to take its toll rapidly, scientists foresee that an ice-free Greenland will release peats of decomposed fungi. Hence, the carbon dioxide long buried beneath tons of ice will only aggravate the present atmospheric conditions. On top of that, what they see are the microbes that will become active as peat deposits begin to thaw. These microbes have the ability to convert peat into methane and carbon dioxide. Methane gas has the capacity to cause global warming effect by 23 times more than carbon dioxide.
Frogs dying in massive numbers still baffle scientists. However, the changes in temperature and the discovery of the deadly “chytridiomycosis” fungus in these amphibians have led scientists to conclude that global warming is indeed beginning to wreak its havoc.