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THE DISCOVERY OF dead and rotting frogspawn in the Wicklow Mountains is “not a good sign” for the state of Ireland’s ecosystem, a zoology researcher has said.
Frogspawn has long been an indicator that spring has arrived, but extreme temperatures in the last few months may have interfered with the natural timeline.
Collie Ennis, Science Officer for the Herpetological Society of Ireland, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that this discovery is “a real headscratcher”.
“Frogs are a really good indicator of healthy ecosystems and to see a mass die-off of spawn in these large numbers, and especially in a wilderness area, it’s really concerning”, he said.
Was out around Sally gap and surrounding forestry plantations checking ponds today as part of ongoing amphibian survey work. Every pond is full of dead rotting spawn. All of it failed. I've never seen anything like it before. Not a single tadpole where there should be thousands.
There are a number of possible causes of this unusual development, Ennis says, and long-term studies are needed.
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“But we’re guessing that the swings in temperature that we got during the spring could’ve affected them”, he said.
“Also frogs and amphibians need very cold temperatures to kick them into gear for reproduction … we had a very mild winter and then we had a very very cold snap in the spring.
“Acidity in the water could be another factor as well.”
He said that “boots on the ground” are needed to fully explore the causes and effects of this phenomenon can be determined.
We really need long term, trend data studies in these isolated areas. Just to keep our finger on what's actually happening. Amphibians are valuable indicators of healthy ecosystems, so our hills aren't looking too healthy at all. Events like this warrant careful scrutiny. pic.twitter.com/GV005bAi7r
After tweeting about what he found, Ennis says some users responded with reports of similar findings in their own gardens.
“So it’s very random but very widespread throughout the country”, he said.
“Even into east England as well we’ve gotten reports from over there.”
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Built a wildlife pond a few years ago. This is the 1st year theres been tadpoles in it. Remember to put a tennis ball or similar in the water to stop ice build up in the frost, especially tonight.
It sounds like the beginning of a Roland emmerich disaster movie The way your man’s talking…
Someone finds something disturbing at the start of the movie which sets of a chain of events to the end of the world as we know it…que dog narrowly jumping to safety from an explosion lol a divorced dad saving his children and newly married ex wife…sorry new husband your one of the red shirts of the movie your gonna die…the family survives the disaster and divorced couple are now back together…that’s right folks you heard it her want to get back with your ex save them from a world ending disaster and that will fix all your problems…and don’t forget folks it all start with somebody finding what they think is disturbing about some dead frogspawn and thejournal.ie thought YES truly a news worthy article QUICK send it to the press….
@transik: hey this is no kip!!! It’s just our servants (the government, td’s, civil service management) that are trash…they make it look like our great country is a kip…its cause they litter the place with their presence ever notice how much cleaner the country is when the ministers fxck off to other country’s for paddy’s day…
This is a great country and given a chance it can be greater once again….but the trash hold our nation back with their selfish greed…the establishment traitors of our nation…
Seems like kermit is firing blanks in wickla..hmm..rest coumtry fine? Think the journal would have interviewed kermit head of the frog famiily? Poor journalism..poor baby kermiits..sad..
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