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Karnataka

Karnataka

Where have the frogs gone?

Ganesh Prabhu

Destruction of water bodies affecting frogs

Under threat: A frog ‘Sylvirana aurantica’ found in Coastal Karnataka.

Udupi: Until a few years ago, the croaking of the frogs used to herald the beginning of the monsoon in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

Frogs were found in almost every water body, making their presence felt through their chorus of croaking. That is hardly the case now. Frogs are sensitive to environmental changes.

The decline in their numbers is an indication of environmental change and a pointer of things to come. Nearly 540 tanks of different sizes dot Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. Many of these water bodies are drying up. Some have completely dried up and are now concrete structures are coming up on them.

The destruction of these tanks is having a cascading effect on the frogs. Says zoologist and former principal of Poornaprajna College N.A. Madhyastha: “Tanks are cradles for tadpoles. Even adult frogs need tanks and other water bodies for reproduction.”

The causes for decline in the number of frogs include reckless use of insecticides, including organochlorides such as DDT, PCB, dioxin, which disrupt the endocrine systems and impair reproduction of frogs, and global warming, which affects the habitats — warmer the habitat, lesser the chances of survival.

Mr. Madhyastha says, “Extensive use of insecticides kills both the tadpoles and frogs and also the insects on which they feed.

The erratic monsoon this year has had an additional impact on the lifecycle of the frog. Fungal disease caused by Batrochochytrium species is also a serious threat.”

Reckless economic development and habitat destruction such as deforestation, mining, construction of dams and change in agriculture patterns have also added to the problem.

According to Mr. Madhyastha, one of the reasons for malaria, filaria and chikungunya recurring in these two districts is the decline of the natural enemies of mosquitoes — frogs and fishes. “Being an important link in the food chain of the ecosystems, the disappearance of frogs will have a severe impact on the ecological balance in these districts,” he says.

There are 121 amphibians (93 species are endemic) in the Western Ghats, of which 107 are frogs and toads.

There are 239 species of amphibians recorded in the country. “India is one of the countries with a large number of threatened species of frogs,” says Mr. Madhyastha.

Medicinal value

Frogs have found a new niche in medicine. Its skin is said to contain best antibiotics.

The extracts from the skin of Australian Red-eyed Tree frog “Litoria chloris” is believed to contain medicines for the prevention of HIV and AIDS. Chemical from the skin of South American frog “Epidebates tricolour” is said to contain a pain killer which is 200 times more potent than natural morphine.

Realising the importance of frogs, the organization Amphibian Ark had declared 2008 as the year of the frog. Says Mr. Madhyastha: “Conservation of frogs is vital for environmental, ecological, and medicinal reasons, apart from ethical — frog as a species has a right to exist.”

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