How Does Certain Types of Pollution

Affect Frogs?

Presenter: Sierra Rodante

Co-Presenter(s):
Luke Demeter-Willison, Kailey Conrad, Anthony Clark

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 19-20

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Martha Shott

Department: Mathematics

Abstract:
Since the 1960s, global frog populations have been declining and many species have gone locally extinct. The main causes that have been recognized have been habitat destruction, pollution, climate change and chytrid fungus. Chytrid fungus has been transported across the globe and is an invasive pathogen that threatens many amphibians. The scientific literature lacks a consensus about which factors have harmed frogs most. We conducted a meta-analysis of scientific studies retrieved through library research. We identified studies about all three causes using search terms related to the four possible causes described above. We found that although there is a large body of research focusing on habitat destruction, climate change, or pollution, recent studies suggest that chytrid fungus is harming frog populations at an incredibly quick rate. This illustrates how human transport of biological materials to new regions can threaten important species and cause major ecological disturbance.