Roundup®highly lethal to amphibians, finds University of Pittsburgh researcher
The herbicide Roundup® is widely used to eradicate weeds. But a study published today by a University of Pittsburgh researcher finds that the chemical may be eradicating much more than that. Pitt assistant professor of biology Rick Relyea found that Roundup®, the second most commonly applied herbicide in the United States, is "extremely lethal" to amphibians. This field experiment is one o...African amphibians make extreme parental sacrifice: The skin off their backs
Just as baby mammals depend on their mothers' milk, the young of the African amphibian Boulengerula taitanus nourish themselves by stripping off and eating the fat-rich outer layer of their mothers' skin, according to an international team of researchers that includes University of Michigan biologist Ronald Nussbaum. The findings are reported in today's issue (April 13) of the journal Natu...Ancient amphibians evolved a bite before migrating to dry land
Ancient aquatic amphibians developed the ability to feed on land before completing the transition to terrestrial life, researchers from Harvard University report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their work is based on analysis of the skulls of the first amphibians, which arose 375 million years ago, and their fish ancestors. The shapes of the junctions betw...Amphibians in losing race with environmental change
Even though they had the ability to evolve and survive for hundreds of millions of years - since before the time of the dinosaurs and through many climatic regimes - the massive, worldwide decline of amphibians can best be understood by their inability to keep pace with the current rate of global change, a new study suggests. The basic constraints of evolution and the inability of species...Global Warming Will Result In the Extinction Of Amphibians
A fungal disease in frogs caused by global warming is resulting in the death of entire populations, and also driving them closer to extinction. The threat to biodiversity // as a result of emerging infectious diseases may also result in danger to human beings. The study published by the journal Nature, reveals how the warming may alter the dynamics of a skin fungus that is fatal to am...