Climate change is killing off amphibians

Global warming has triggered the decline of hundreds of species of frogs and toads by helping a deadly skin infection to spread across the world.

Scientists believe they have found the first clear proof that global warming has caused outbreaks of an infectious disease that is wiping out entire populations of amphibians. The dramatic decline of the 6,000 species of amphibians was first identified in 1990 and one theory for the loss was the spread of a devastating skin infection caused by a fungus.

A study by an international team of researchers has now linked the spread of a species of chytrid fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis with a rise in tropical temperatures associated with global warming.

The scientists believe the average temperatures of many tropical highland regions, which are rich in endemic species of frogs and toads, have shifted to become perfect for the growth of the fungus. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa of the University of Alberta in Canada, one of the authors of the study, published in the journal Nature, said the analysis firmly linked climate change with the demise of many frogs and toads.

"With this increase in temperature, the fungus has been able to increase its niche and wipe out large populations of amphibians," he said. The rapid loss of amphibians - frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - has led to about one- third of them, some 1,856 species, being classified as threatened. Hundreds more face extinction.