Artificial 'misting system' allows vanished toad to be released back into the wild - Polidicks

[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/animals/600/animals_02633.jpg[/img] [i]A captive Kihansi spray toad at the WCS Bronx Zoo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. [/i] [quote]In 1996 scientists discovered a new species of dwarf toad: the Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis). Although surviving on only two hectares near the Kihansi Gorge in Tanzania, the toads proved populous: around 17,000 individuals crowded the smallest known habitat of any vertebrate, living happily off the moist micro-habitat created by spray from adjacent waterfalls. Eight years later and the Kihansi spray toad was gone. Disease combined with the construction of a hydroelectric dam ended the toads' limited, but fecund, reign. However, before the toad population collapsed completely conservationists with the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Bronx Zoo were able to establish a captive population of 499 frogs. Now, researchers are releasing a seed population of Kihansi spray toads back into their native habitat, but with one caveat: an artificial "misting system" is the only thing standing between the tiny amphibians and a second extinction. "As long as the hydroelectric dam persists, the misting system will be needed in order to provide sufficient 'spray meadow' habitat at the base of Kihansi Falls for the single Kihansi Spray Toad population to persist," Don Church the President and Director of Wildlands Conservation with Global Wildlife Conservation told mongabay.com. "The energy company [running the dam], TANESCO, is mandated to allow some water over the dam so that the river and Kihansi Falls do not dry up. However, the spray zone generated by Kihansi Falls is vastly reduced compared to what it was before the dam was constructed." In what may be the first time conservationists have ever re-established an "extinct" species in a human-engineered ecosystem, conservationists released around 2,500 amphibians this week. The effort is a culmination of years of a work by multiple groups—the Tanzania's National Environmental Management Council (NEMC), the University of Dar Salaam, the Toledo Zoo, WCS, the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, the IUCN SSC Re-introduction Specialist Group, and Global Wildlife Conservation—to save the toads from extinction and bring them back to their spray meadows. [img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/KihansiDam.360.jpg[/img] [i]Kihansi River dam. Photo by: UNESCO.[/i] The conservation work has moved remarkably fast. Today's captive population has grown 12-fold from its beginning in 2004, while frogs are being released only three years after the IUCN announced they were extinct in the wild. "Most reintroductions for amphibians and reptiles have been designed to establish or augment a population of a rare species, but it is extremely exciting to be involved in actually returning a species that was extinct in the wild back to its native habitat." said Kurt Buhlmann and Tracey Tuberville, research scientists with the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. The misting system, engineered especially for this issue, was developed as recompense for the environmental damage caused by the dam, which was funded by the World Bank and the government of Noway. "[It] diverts water from above the fall through a network of pipes with misting heads at regular intervals and effectively creates a spray zone over a broader area than the Kihansi Falls, in its current state, can generate," Church explains. "The system is maintained to deliver 70 mm of 'precipitation' per day which was the average amount recorded in the "spray meadow" prior to the dam's construction." The manmade structure also includes bridges around the gorge where scientists can monitor the progress of the tiny frogs. A brilliant yellow, the Kihansi spray toad is a small enough to fit on a human thumbnail, and unlike most amphibians actually bears live young. While the dam desiccated its habitat, the toad population also suffered from the killer chytridiomycosis fungus near the end. This amphibian disease, which has spread quickly worldwide, has already pushed a number of once abundant species to the brink and is one reason why amphibians are among the most endangered of the world's animal groups. Currently, the IUCN Red List estimates that over 40 percent of amphibians are under threat, while more than 150 species are believed to have gone extinct since the early 1980s. "The success story of the small Kihansi Spray Toad can teach us big lessons for the future of biodiversity conservation," Claude Gascon, the co-chair of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, Claude Gascon, said. "While amphibians and other species are incurring severe threats to their survival, it is never too late to use the best science and conservation action to save a species and its habitat." While the story of the Kihansi spray toad remains one of the happier ones for frogs lately, only time will tell if the toads will thrive in their engineered habitat—and, perhaps, only philosophers can tell us if a wild animal is still wild if it depends on a human-constructed ecosystem for survival. [/quote] [img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/Kihansi-Gorge-spray-system.568.jpg[/img] [i]Misting system provides constant moisture for the frog's habitat. Photo courtesy of Global Wildlife Conservation.[/i] [img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/Kihansi-Falls-2.568.jpg[/img] [i]Kihansi Falls. Photo courtesy of Global Wildlife Conservation.[/i] [img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/Kihansi-Spray-Toads-(Nectophrynoides-asperginis)-1.568.jpg[/img] [i]Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis). Photo courtesy of Global Wildlife Conservation.[/i] [img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/Kihansi-Upper-Spray-Wetland-sign.568.jpg[/img] [i]Kihansi upper spray wetland sign. Photo courtesy of Global Wildlife Conservation.[/i] [url=http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1101-hance-kihansi-released.html]Source[/url] [editline]4th November 2012[/editline] This is amazing to me: [b]In what may be the first time conservationists have ever re-established an "extinct" species in a human-engineered ecosystem[/b]

I love to say it but I hate to say it, this is going to happen a lot more. We are going to have to engineer systems to allow animals to thrive in the wild, the more we mess this place up. Pretty general statement I know, but encompassing none the less.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;38309211]I love to say it but I hate to say it, this is going to happen a lot more. We are going to have to engineer systems to allow animals to thrive in the wild, the more we mess this place up. Pretty general statement I know, but encompassing none the less.[/QUOTE] Beats the old system of just letting them die out.

that smile...... Also the misting systems looks pretty cool, I wish i had done around my house.

[QUOTE=Ithon;38309223]that smile...... Also the misting systems looks pretty cool, I wish i had done around my house.[/QUOTE] So all of your shit can get wet?

Holy fuck that guy in the last picture looks fucking evil.

[QUOTE=laserguided;38309506]Holy fuck that guy in the last picture looks fucking evil.[/QUOTE] [t]http://i.imgur.com/Qmp8c.png[/t]

I love the sound of mist. ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;38309621][t]http://i.imgur.com/Qmp8c.png[/t][/QUOTE] Obligatory [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NjVgF.jpg[/IMG]

isn't that the imageshack toad

[QUOTE=Corey_Faure;38309735]Obligatory [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NjVgF.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] looks like a mix between coach and nick

Looks like the toads share traits with Dwarfs, these also love their mist.

Nature will find a way! *Goldblum noises*

[QUOTE=imptastick;38309213]Beats the old system of just letting them die out.[/QUOTE] Well, there is a third option; engineering the species to survive in the altered environment. A company known as uniQure has been working on Glybera, a form of gene therapy approved in Europe; with proper adjustment the virus used in the therapy could be adapted to Kihansi spray toads and other animals. Further study of the code would allow scientists to know what genes made the tiny toads require such thick mists, and alter the toads to be adapted to a less moist environment, as well as a few other code changes that could benefit the species in the long run. That's right; in a world where one must either preserve endangered species or risk them dying out, I suggest using science to adapt the species to the grim dark polluted environments of the future. Imagine the possibilities; it could give the pandas a pair of balls and a better diet, it could boost the intelligence of the great apes, it could give future generations of dolphins freaking ARMS; the possibilities are endless. Technology's not quite there yet; we need to fully decode the programming language and learn what genes do what for a lot of species. Here's hoping that if there's a galactic community, they don't have any legislations prohibiting excessive gene therapy; in fact I hope they have a Genetics Convention where scientists show off their latest projects.

[QUOTE=Nibroc;38311104]looks like a mix between coach and nick[/QUOTE] So Nich or Cock?

[QUOTE=Nibroc;38311104]looks like a mix between coach and nick[/QUOTE] I'm just thinking of one of those Ainsley Harriot faces. [img]http://www.ainsley-harriott.net/images/ainsley-harriott-03.jpg[/img]

If he was a mercenary, he'd have a flamethrower and use phrases like "let's cook 'em" or something.

[QUOTE=ironman17;38311859]Well, there is a third option; engineering the species to survive in the altered environment. A company known as uniQure has been working on Glybera, a form of gene therapy approved in Europe; with proper adjustment the virus used in the therapy could be adapted to Kihansi spray toads and other animals. Further study of the code would allow scientists to know what genes made the tiny toads require such thick mists, and alter the toads to be adapted to a less moist environment, as well as a few other code changes that could benefit the species in the long run. That's right; in a world where one must either preserve endangered species or risk them dying out, I suggest using science to adapt the species to the grim dark polluted environments of the future. Imagine the possibilities; it could give the pandas a pair of balls and a better diet, it could boost the intelligence of the great apes, it could give future generations of dolphins freaking ARMS; the possibilities are endless. Technology's not quite there yet; we need to fully decode the programming language and learn what genes do what for a lot of species. Here's hoping that if there's a galactic community, they don't have any legislations prohibiting excessive gene therapy; in fact I hope they have a Genetics Convention where scientists show off their latest projects.[/QUOTE] By altering the species you are changing what made it unique, the original would still die. Plus if we were to figure out how to adjust all endangered species to live in more environments then we would have major problems once they started to spread out, you would be in affect engineering the greatest invasive species in history. Organisms dependent on specific ecosystems is important to keep global biodiversity stable, in fact it is the organisms that are more versatile that cause the most problems (Coyotes, Japanese stilt grass, Cane Toads, Kudzu, etc.)

I am terribly sorry, Facepunch, OP, everyone. I...I misread the title as "artificial 'fisting system'". [i]Don't kill me![/i]

[QUOTE=geogzm;38311032]isn't that the imageshack toad[/QUOTE] It's a yellow frog/toad, but I don't think it's an exact match [img]https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1083177561/imageshackLogo-square.gif[/img]