Speech Story
Amphibian Decline
Dr. Andrew Storfer, a professor at Washington State University’s School of Biological Sciences, gave a speech concerning the rapid decline of amphibians last night during the Zoology Clubs final meeting.
Storfer began his speech with background information surrounding the decline of amphibians, and then went into details about the various theories and reasons that explain why such a decline is occurring. With nearly 45 percent of amphibian species declining and 180 species already extinct, Storfer was quick to talk about what many scientists believe is largest reason for this rapid change: habitat destruction.
“The rate of change in habitat directly coincides with amphibian survival,” said Storfer while showing a picture of wetlands being destroyed. “It’s easy to see why when you consider that less than 33% of the original wetlands are left in the United States”
Habitat destruction was only the top of the list however, and Storfer continued on to other causes of amphibian decline like invasive species, which are often implemented into an ecosystem on purpose as a means of biological pest control, and over exploitation of amphibians by humans, particularly as a source of food.
“We don’t think of things like frogs as a food source much here in America, but in other parts of the world they are very popular,” said Storfer while talking about the problem of frog and amphibian consumption. “It gets to be a real problem when you consider that 95% of world demand for frog legs and frog products are supplied by wild frogs.”
Storfer also talked about the problem of securing funding for amphibian conservation and research, and pointed out that amphibians were probably quite low on the list of endangered species. It’s just harder to convince people to worry about frog and salamander conservation when it’s the mammals that are usually at the forefront of conservation funding and public opinion.
“People can relate to things like a wolf because they have things like pet dogs – people don’t have pet frogs,” said Storfer. “Mammals are thought to be bigger, smarter and fluffier.”
This seemed to be a point that many people listening to the speech identified with, with more than one person commenting that the public needs to be made more aware about the importance of amphibians and the speed by which they are declining.
“It’s definitely something people should know more about,” said Katy Burr, a 3-year member and president of the Zoology Club. “Amphibians are important to the environment and people don’t realize it.”
The speech ended with Storfer taking questions from people in the audience, which Zoology Club members provided wholeheartedly. The members of the club seemed really interested in the material and had positive things to say about the speech.
“I thought the speech was really good and informative,” said Sydney Zeller, a Zoology Club and Organization of Future Veterinarians member. “It’s something not many people know about.”
Zoology club costs $8 a semester or $15 dollars for two semesters and hosts a variety of events for its members all year.
3 Questions for the speaker:
- Why should this issue be on the forefront of public debate?
- How big a part is global warming playing in this decline?
- What do you think is the best strategy to improve funding for amphibian conservation is?
Contacts:
Dr. Andrew Storfer
astorfer@wsu.edu
Office: (509) 335-7922
Katy Burr
kburr@wsu.edu
Sydney Zeller
szeller@wsu.edu
Outline:
1. Who Spoke
2. Background Info
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3. Various points in speech
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4. Audience reaction
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5. End of speech/what is zoology club
