From
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STILLWATER,
Minn. -As dusk fell, the orchestra sounded its opening notes.
John
Vickery and Lisa McDonald took their front-row seats on
the shore of a small pond north of Stillwater and listened
intently.
"That
banjo sound? Those are green frogs," McDonald whispered.
"And
a leopard frog in there, too," Vickery said. "The
one that's kind of like the Three Stooges -- nyuk, nyuk,
nyuk -- that's the wood frog.
"This
is better than anything we heard last year in terms of having
all these frogs in one place," said Vickery, who is
in his second year of a volunteer effort to record frog
activity in Minnesota. "It's too bad we have to leave
instead of staying to listen."
Vickery
and McDonald stopped at 10 sites Wednesday night, repeating
the same procedure: Wait a few minutes for the frogs to
start calling again, note which of Minnesota's 14 species
of frogs and toads are calling and about how many, observe
weather conditions and water temperatures, and write it
all down.
They'll
repeat Wednesday's trip twice more this summer as two of
287 volunteers in the Minnesota Frog and Toad Calling Survey.
Their ears help scientists track frog populations and distribution
in Minnesota. The data will create a baseline to help scientists
nationwide understand frog and toad population trends.
"There's
a lot of evidence that frogs and toads are in decline globally,"
but the causes aren't clear, said Rich Baker, animal research
coordinator-zoologist with the Department of Natural Resource's
nongame wildlife program.
"We
know that frogs and toads are not doing well for a variety
of reasons," he said.
Their
semipermeable skin makes them vulnerable to pollution and
contaminants in the water. The thinning of the ozone layer
may increase their exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Parasites
may be taking a greater toll. But scientists aren't sure
which factors have the greatest influence or what other
factors may be involved.
Efforts
to count Minnesota's amphibians began in 1993, Baker said.
The DNR took it over in 1996 and, with the help of A Thousand
Friends of Frogs at Hamline University, developed the program
to fit with the national North American Amphibian Monitoring
Program. The program costs are paid through contributions
to the nongame wildlife fund -- the checkoff on your state
income tax form.
Volunteers'
efforts "make a real contribution to what we know about
our resources and how to manage our resources," Baker
said.
Vickery,
whose background includes biochemistry and conservation,
said he hopes the data encourage good policy decisions aimed
at protecting the environment.
Minnesota
volunteers obtained data on about 70 routes a year for the
past five years. A strong push this year increased volunteer
numbers from 98 to 287 and the number of routes from 70
to 290.
McDonald
enjoys the challenge of learning the 14 species' songs and
the opportunity to be outdoors and contributing. She's not
even a biologist by training -- her graduate work was in
early medieval literature.
"It's
a way to learn more about the environment in areas where
they need laypeople out there looking," she said.
