Inclement weather particularly affects frogs and salamanders in Europe, the Amazon and Madagascar
Extreme weather due to climate change is amplifying the ongoing conservation crisis that amphibians are experiencing across the world. Researchers examined climate data for the past 40 years throughout the globe. Focusing on areas that had experienced a jump in droughts, cold spells or heat waves, the team looked at the ranges of more than 7,000 amphibian species. In the study published recently in Conservation Biology, they found that areas with increased heat waves and droughts have more amphibians that are doing poorly, as measured by threat status on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. “Amphibians’ dependence on temporary wetlands for breeding makes them particularly vulnerable to droughts and temperature shifts that cause their breeding grounds to dry prematurely,” said Evan Twomey, the lead author of the study and a biologist at Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, in a press release. Areas that have been particularly hit hard are Europe, the Amazon region and Madagascar.
