Amphibians example essay topic

810 words
It has been noticed by all biologist that there has been a decline in the amphibian population due to many various causes. But, why should this be so important, and more specific why should we care as much? Various groups of animals, reptiles, mammals, have been on this Earth, and have been long extinct. Why should we be so concerned about the decrease of amphibians? There are many reasons why amphibians are important, and that is why we should stay concern about their population decreasing.

This group of reptiles are wonderful examples of evolutionary success over a long period of time. They have thrived through three hundred and fifty million years of dinosaurs, meteors, and as well as humans. Most importantly they have evolved adaptations to a wide range of environments; including oceans, deserts, ponds and forests. Aside from that, they basically dominant the ecosystems in terms of numbers and total weight, particularly in wetland and forest ecosystems.

Amphibians play a big role in the food webs as since, for they are many favorites for some of the predators. Amphibians carrying foul-tasting chemicals on their skin and gland that they use as protection from predators, but those chemicals are beneficially to us because we are capable in using them in medicines; such as heart stimulants, painkillers, and organ glues. Believe it or not, but these little critters, especially a tree frog is used to control insects in Australia. In all, I have mentioned how they has beneficially to the environment, but because of their beauty some of them have, they have played an important role in literature, especially children's stories, myths, the Bible, the Koran, and works of Shakespeare.

So, to sum it up they are very important, and what is happening to them kind of affects our lives as well. But why is their population declining now? They have been on this Earth for so many millions of years, what is causing them to die all of a sudden. Globally, over two hundred species have experienced a decrease in the population, and thirty two species have been extinct already. There are many factors behind this, such as climate change.

A major climate change would relate to the El Nino events which affect the ocean currents, and that affects the weather patterns on land. That changes the temperature and precipitation patterns, which the amphibians are not adapted to that kind of environment. How would you like it if someone were to bring a big bulldozer into your home and wrecked everything you owned? Well amphibians can't tell us their feelings, but by the way they are disappearing we can kind of tell they don't like it.

For us, humans to be living we need some supplies from the forest, a big one is paper. So what we do is knock down a couple trees. Well those are their natural habitats, and sadly to say the destruction of their habitats is probably the number one reason why their population is declining. Are we going to stop knocking down trees? Probably not, so goodbye frogs! Now what about the remaining habitats you say?

Yes, well they will be gone too one day, because the remaining habitats will have a negative impact on amphibians by isolating the populations that remain, because they are slightly connected. Ultra violet radiation is known to harm amphibians. The reduction in the size of the ozone layer has lead to increased levels of UV-B reaching the Earth's surface. The UV-B can kill or damage the eggs and cause deformities. As well as chemical contaminants.

They will do the same harm as the UV-B. Along with chemicals, and UV-B a combination of new diseases are more susceptible to lead to the death of amphibians larvae or even the adults. And one of the last factors, is trade. Sadly to say, our little guys are traded. We don't have enough of them, yet they still want to trade them. Amphibians are removed from the wild and are sold internationally as food, pets, and for medicinal and biological supply markets. To conclude, amphibians are used for many beneficially reasons: medicine, or even to keep some kid alive by feeding him a frog, but I believe that the world is being selfish, and not realizing that they too are a living group of reptiles, and deserve their fair chance in living.

And since thirty two species have already been extinct, people should become more aware of the problem, and cut back on their usage of amphibians, because they need to enjoy their lives swimming in a pond, or climbing up a tree... .