Analysis & Summary of National Geographic Article "The Vanishing"

An article published by National Geographic in April of 2009 by Jennifer Holland entitled "The Vanishing" was what first drew me to this issue. This article opens up with a descriptive story of a male frog and a female frog who seem to be hugging, but the female is dead. Habitat destruc­tion, the introduction of exotic species, commercial exploitation, and water pollution are working in concert to decimate the world's amphibians.

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 In addition to these obstacles in the environment, a form of fungal infection known as "chytrid" is a big cause of death for amphibians. Chytrid attacks keratin, a key protein in skin and mouthparts, which messes up oxygen exchange and control of water and salts in the body.The two frogs in the opening story of the article tested positive for chytrid and the male died soon after the female. To put this fungal  into perspective, researcher Lee Bergers, explains: "The impact of chytrid on frogs is the most spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history."  Completely extinct from the wild are the Costa Rican golden toad, the Panamanian golden frog, the Wyoming toad, and the Australian gastric-brooding frog, to name a few. 

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Vance Vredenburg is a biologist at San Francisco State University whose been studying frogs for over 13 years recalls, "It wasn't long ago when you walked along the bank of this pond, a frog leapt at every other step. You'd see hundreds of them alive and well, soaking in the sun in a writhing mass." But in 2005, when Vrenburg returned ready for another series of studies he said, "there were dead frogs everywhere. Frogs I'd been working with for years, that I'd tagged and followed through their lives, all dead. I sat down on the ground and cried." This quote really opened my eyes at how devastating the loss of amphibian life has been in the past 20 years. My personal experience growing up with a pond in my backyard, picturing this scene Vrenenburg described broke my heart. Vance Vrenenburg worked to remove the fish from the lakes where frogs were dying to restore the frog population. However, once the lakes were free of fish, chytrid came back and killed the frog species once again. Vrenenburg is now working to create an anti-fungal medication to give frogs that helps them overcome chytrid. 

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Still, more frogs are dying now than ever before due to infections and problems that humans are causing in the environment. Frogs are a rare species because there are so many different types, sizes, colors, and shapes. However, if we continue to be careless and reckless with how we treat our environment, species will continue to disappear and die. Amphibians are beautifully unique creatures and I plan to change my ways to save species of frogs, toads, and salamanders.