Global warming may cause widespread amphibian extinctions by triggering lethal epidemics, a new study reports.
J. Alan Pounds and colleagues suggest that many harlequin frog species (Atelopus) across Central and South America have disappeared due to deadly infectious diseases spurred by changing water and air temperatures.
"Disease is the bullet killing frogs, but climate change is pulling the trigger," said Pounds, lead study author and resident scientist at Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.
"Global warming is wreaking havoc on amphibians and will cause staggering losses of biodiversity if we don't do something fast."
Biodiversity refers to the number of species in a given area. It is often used to gauge the health of an ecosystem.
The study appears in today's issue of the journal Nature.
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