4 years ago
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Pregilla blog moving to mister-toad.com
It has been a long time since I've made a post here. For anyone following this blog, I'm writing to let you know that I've started a new blog, mister-toad.com: Natural history on the web.
The new blog will have similar content on natural history, herpetology, and science. I'll also be including posts on science, photography, and the emerging field known as 'citizen-science'. The plan is to maintain new posts at least weekly. Hope to see you there!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Pacific Treefrogs Riding Christmas Trees
Earlier this week I was contacted by Tammy Davis, Project Leader of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Invasive Species Program. She sent me a few photos of a mysterious frog that turned up in a Christmas Tree in Alaska. The person who had bought the tree was curious about the frog, and sent in the photos to Tammy. The photos were clearly a Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regilla, also known as the Pacific Treefrog). According to Tammy, the trees originated in Oregon. This is not the first time that Pacific Chorus Frogs and other amphibians have been found to be transported in Christmas Trees and other horticultural products; for instance, Christy et al (2007 Diversity and Distributions) report on Pacific Chorus frogs being brought to Guam in Christmas Trees.
I've been studying the Pacific Chorus Frog since 1999. Most of the time, when I am thinking about conservation biology and pacific chorus frogs, it is from the perspective of potential threats that could damage their populations. However, the observation of Pacific Chorus Frogs hitchhiking from Oregon to Alaska raises the question of whether there is real potential for them to become established in Alaska. There are already several cases of these frogs being established out of their native range. For instance, a population of Pacific Chorus Frogs that was established in the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska in the 1960s was extant at least until 2002. However, it did not appear to have spread beyond a single lake, according to S.O. MacDonald's "Amphibians and Reptiles of Alaska". This suggests that perhaps Pacific Chorus Frogs would not spread far if introduced in Alaska.
In contrast, Reimchen (1991, Canadian Field Naturalist) reported on his studies of Pacific Chorus Frogs introduced to the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. The Pacific Chorus Frogs on the Queen Charlotte Islands spread at a rate of approximately 2 km per year. While the Queen Charlotte Islands are considerably south of Juneau, the islands are also north of the natural geographic range of these frogs. This suggests that Pacific Chorus Frog populations introduced to Alaska may be capable of increasing in size and spreading.
The observation of these frogs being moved so far in Christmas Trees has also made me think about the consequences of frogs being moved around within their natural geographic range. It is well-known that amphibians are transported with horticultural and agricultural products. However, it is not known whether these movements have much of an effect on local populations. Do these movements alter the population-genetic structure of any of these species? Are these movements associated with the introduction or spread of pathogens like Chytrid Fungus or Ranavirus? These are all questions worth answering.
Pacific Chorus Frogs in Christmas Trees in Alaska turned into a news story, and I have had a few people point it out to me. The comments section of these stories are predictable. They range from people upset about the recommendation to kill the frogs, to other people complaining about endangered species, but in skimming the comments, I don't see anyone else reporting finding a frog. With this increased publicity, it will be interesting to see if there are more reports of pacific chorus frogs turning up in imported Christmas Trees in Alaska.
I have also seen a rise in hits on my Pacific Chorus Frog webpage, that corresponds to the release of this story. I wonder if all this extra web traffic is from people concerned about the invasive potential of pacific chorus frogs? If you've found a Pacific Chorus frog or other amphibian in your Christmas tree, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Please send me an email at 'mfbenard@gmail.com'.
I've been studying the Pacific Chorus Frog since 1999. Most of the time, when I am thinking about conservation biology and pacific chorus frogs, it is from the perspective of potential threats that could damage their populations. However, the observation of Pacific Chorus Frogs hitchhiking from Oregon to Alaska raises the question of whether there is real potential for them to become established in Alaska. There are already several cases of these frogs being established out of their native range. For instance, a population of Pacific Chorus Frogs that was established in the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska in the 1960s was extant at least until 2002. However, it did not appear to have spread beyond a single lake, according to S.O. MacDonald's "Amphibians and Reptiles of Alaska". This suggests that perhaps Pacific Chorus Frogs would not spread far if introduced in Alaska.
In contrast, Reimchen (1991, Canadian Field Naturalist) reported on his studies of Pacific Chorus Frogs introduced to the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. The Pacific Chorus Frogs on the Queen Charlotte Islands spread at a rate of approximately 2 km per year. While the Queen Charlotte Islands are considerably south of Juneau, the islands are also north of the natural geographic range of these frogs. This suggests that Pacific Chorus Frog populations introduced to Alaska may be capable of increasing in size and spreading.
The observation of these frogs being moved so far in Christmas Trees has also made me think about the consequences of frogs being moved around within their natural geographic range. It is well-known that amphibians are transported with horticultural and agricultural products. However, it is not known whether these movements have much of an effect on local populations. Do these movements alter the population-genetic structure of any of these species? Are these movements associated with the introduction or spread of pathogens like Chytrid Fungus or Ranavirus? These are all questions worth answering.
Pacific Chorus Frogs in Christmas Trees in Alaska turned into a news story, and I have had a few people point it out to me. The comments section of these stories are predictable. They range from people upset about the recommendation to kill the frogs, to other people complaining about endangered species, but in skimming the comments, I don't see anyone else reporting finding a frog. With this increased publicity, it will be interesting to see if there are more reports of pacific chorus frogs turning up in imported Christmas Trees in Alaska.
I have also seen a rise in hits on my Pacific Chorus Frog webpage, that corresponds to the release of this story. I wonder if all this extra web traffic is from people concerned about the invasive potential of pacific chorus frogs? If you've found a Pacific Chorus frog or other amphibian in your Christmas tree, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Please send me an email at 'mfbenard@gmail.com'.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Fighting Toms
In early April I was driving along a dirt road in Southeastern Michigan when I spotted a couple male turkeys fighting it out on the side of the road. I stopped the truck and turned off the engine to get this short video. The two turkeys were so focused on fighting with one another that they didn't seem to care that I was parked a few feet from them. There were a few other turkeys about 30 meters away from this pair. Eventually, one of the male turkeys broke off the fight and fled, with the other male chasing him.
Fighting Turkeys:
Fighting Turkeys:
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A pair of amphibian videos
On a recent trip to California, I took a few videos of the local amphibian breeding activity:
Calling Pacific Chorus Frogs: The pacific chorus frog is a common frog on the west coast of North America; its geographic range goes from British Columbia to Baja California. In the United States, it can be found in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. You can learn more about this frog at Pacific Chorus Frog Natural History.
Mating Newt Video: The California newt, Taricha torosa is only found in California. The adults congregate in streams and wetlands to breed when the winter rains arrive. They often travel long distances over land to reach the breeding ponds; you may see large groups of these newts crossing roads to get a chance to mate.
Calling Pacific Chorus Frogs: The pacific chorus frog is a common frog on the west coast of North America; its geographic range goes from British Columbia to Baja California. In the United States, it can be found in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. You can learn more about this frog at Pacific Chorus Frog Natural History.
Mating Newt Video: The California newt, Taricha torosa is only found in California. The adults congregate in streams and wetlands to breed when the winter rains arrive. They often travel long distances over land to reach the breeding ponds; you may see large groups of these newts crossing roads to get a chance to mate.
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