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Global warming and amphibian losses; The proximate cause of frog declines? (Reply)

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Abstract

Alford et al.1 question the working model underlying our test2 for a link between global warming and amphibian disappearances, and Di Rosa et al.3 criticize our emphasis on a single proximate agent, the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Both teams report key pieces of the amphibian-decline puzzle and new evidence from different parts of the world that climate change is a factor in these losses. Here we show why our working model was appropriate and highlight the complexity of the imminent threat to species survival that results as global warming conspires with various other agents.

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Figure 1: Punctuated warm periods preceding the disappearances of harlequin frog species (Atelopus) in Central and South America.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Golden Toad Laboratory for Conservation, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and Tropical Science Center, Santa Elena, 5655-73, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

    J. Alan Pounds & Michael P. L. Fogden

  2. Museo de Zoología, Centro de Biodiversidad y Ambiente, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Apartado, 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador

    Martín R. Bustamante, Luis A. Coloma, Andrés Merino-Viteri & Santiago R. Ron

  3. Department of Environmental Science, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, 10027, New York, USA

    Jamie A. Consuegra

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK

    Pru N. Foster

  5. Laboratorio de Biogeografía, Escuela de Geografía, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad de Los Andes, Apartado 116, Mérida, 5101-A, Venezuela

    Enrique La Marca

  6. Council for International Educational Exchange, Monteverde, 5655-26, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

    Karen L. Masters

  7. School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811, Queensland, Australia

    Robert Puschendorf

  8. Texas Memorial Museum and Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, 78712, Texas, USA

    Santiago R. Ron

  9. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2E3, Alberta, Canada

    G. Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa

  10. Department of Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, 93106, USA, California

    Christopher J. Still

  11. NatureServe, Plaza Colonial, San José, 1260-358, Costa Rica

    Bruce E. Young

Authors
  1. J. Alan Pounds
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  2. Martín R. Bustamante
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  3. Luis A. Coloma
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  4. Jamie A. Consuegra
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  5. Michael P. L. Fogden
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  6. Pru N. Foster
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  7. Enrique La Marca
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  8. Karen L. Masters
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  9. Andrés Merino-Viteri
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  10. Robert Puschendorf
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  11. Santiago R. Ron
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  12. G. Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa
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  13. Christopher J. Still
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  14. Bruce E. Young
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Pounds, J., Bustamante, M., Coloma, L. et al. Global warming and amphibian losses; The proximate cause of frog declines? (Reply). Nature 447, E5–E6 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05942

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