Frogs Falling Silent Across USA." USA Today, 12 August 98, 3A.

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

          "Frogs Falling Silent Across USA."  USA Today, 12 August 98, 3A.
               The article reviews evidence of declining amphibian
               populations and presents the theories that have been
               proposed to explain the phenomenon.  Last month, three
               groups of researchers presented evidence that some of the
               dieoffs are the result of fungal or viral infections: a
               paper in last month's _Proceedings of the National Academy
               of Sciences_ [which the OPPT Library does not receive]
               blamed many worldwide dieoffs on the skin fungus, chytrid;
               researcher Sharon Taylor presented evidence that the Wyoming
               toad, now extinct in the wild, was killed by the fungus
               Basidiobolus ranarum; and David Gardiner, biologist at the
               University of California, Irvine, reported that preliminary
               testing showed a mass death of frogs in a Minnesota lake
               could be the result of a virus.  Some researchers doubt that
               infections alone are enough to cause the dieoffs, and
               suspect other contributing factors, such as pollution, have
               weakened the frogs' immune systems. Sidebar: photos of
               several frogs.