In this case, the Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog is apparently being wiped out by a species of chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which has invaded its habitat in central Panama. Since the fungus was detected, only one of the species' males has been heard calling out, but no other males have been heard to answer.

There's also been some forest clear-cutting in its habitat, to build some luxury holiday homes, but that hasn't reached critical levels. Photo by Brad Wilson/UICN/AP Images [Guardian]

According to Dan Box at The Ecologist:

The evacuation of the Carteret Islands [has] begun. This morning I stood on black volcanic sand, pressed up right against the jungle, and watched a small white boat powered by a single outboard engine run in against the shore. On board were five men from the Islands, the fathers of five families, who have come to finish building houses and gardens already begun in a cleared patch of jungle at Tinputz, on the east coast of Bougainville. When these homes are ready the five will return to the Carterets, to fetch their wives and children back. Life, they hope, will be better for them here. On the Carterets, king tides have washed away their crops and rising sea levels poisoned those that remain with salt. The people have been forced to move.

The Solmon Islands News provides more details:

The five families were chosen from a criteria set by Tulele Peisa with the emphasis on size of family, whether a family has enough to feed on the island, access to paying school fees and medical services and the whether the family is able to survive on the island for the next two years.

This story is going to become more and more common in the next decade or two, as the people who did the least to cause climate change pay the highest price.

Top photos from Sun Come Up. [via Mother Jones]

According to a recent study by computer security firm McAfee, the amount of spam emails sent last year (62 trillion) created the same amount of carbon emissions as 2 billion gallons of petrol burnt in a car engine. Overall, the amount of energy expended in the creation, transmission and processing of spam for last year is equivalent to the energy usage of more than 2 million typical homes. Unsurprisingly, McAfee took this opportunity to position themselves as defenders of the environment, as SVP of Product Development Jeff Green explains:

Stopping spam at its source, as well investing in filtering technology, will save time and money, and will pay dividends to the planet by reducing carbon emissions as well.

In related news, each employee of McAfee has personally sworn to save one endangered species a year for as long as they're with the company.

Spam tramples environment with huge carbon footprint [New Scientist]

The Center for American Progress created the map to provide scientific information on the dangers of global warming. Contributors suggest points on the map that, according to scientific research, have recently experienced or are predicted to experience increases in storm activity, flooding, heat waves, and fires due to global warming. The map also looks at endangered fisheries and possible threats to human health, such as increases in vector-borne diseases and algae blooms. Clicking on individual points on the map brings up a detailed prediction of the future weather patterns.

Most of the points currently on the map are focused on North America and Europe, but future contributions should offer a look at the possible consequences of climate change worldwide.

The Human Toll of Climate Change [Science Progress via bioephemera]

The WWF, in conjunction with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network, released The Living Planet Report 2008, which projects humanity’s ecological footprint relative to the Earth’s biocapacity. And, after looking at factors such as deforestation, water consumption, pollution, climate change, and overexploitation of wildlife, the findings are dire:

Our global footprint now exceeds the world’s capacity to regenerate by about 30 per cent. If our demands on the planet continue at the same rate, by the mid-2030s we will need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles. And this year’s report captures, for the first time, the impact of our consumption on the Earth’s water resources and our vulnerability to water scarcity in many areas.

But the report isn’t entirely pessimistic. The WWF believes that humanity can alter the path of overconsumption and, by turning toward sustainable practices, close the gap between mankind’s ecological footprint and the Earth’s biocapacity:

The good news is that we have the means to reverse the ecological credit crunch – it is not too late to prevent an irreversible ecological recession setting in. This report identifies the key areas where we need to transform our lifestyles and economies to put us on a more sustainable trajectory.

It’s either that or get on that space colonization thing ASAP.

[World Wildlife Fund via Phenomenica]

At least one-third of amphibian species are threatened with extinction right now, and even non-threatened species are suffering catastrophic declines in population. Most likely, the causes are global warming and the shrinking habitats where amphibians live.

But what merits calling this a "mass extinction"? The researchers explain in a release from UC Berkeley:

"There's no question that we are in a mass extinction spasm right now," said David Wake, professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley . . . New species arise and old species die off all the time, but sometimes the extinction numbers far outweigh the emergence of new species. Extreme cases of this are called mass extinction events, and there have been only five in our planet's history, until now.

The sixth mass extinction event, which Wake and others argue is happening currently, is different from the past events. "My feeling is that behind all this lies the heavy hand of Homo sapiens," Wake said.

It's hard to say exactly when the mass extinction of amphibians began. It could have been 10,000 years ago, when humans arrived in the Americas and began changing the local environment by hunting. Or it could have been with the dawning of the industrial area, with its chemical pollutants destroying watery environments where frogs live. No matter when the extinction began, Wake and his colleagues believe that it has sped up considerably over the past few decades and shows no sign of slowing down.

Dying Frogs a Sign of Biodiversity Crisis [UC Berkeley]

States like California, Montana, Idaho and Colorado are already seeing their crops and livestock die off in record numbers. And the climate report predicts that the situation will only get more dire, even if the government responds immediately by cutting emissions. Droughts will become longer and more intense. Rivers and water reserves will dry up, partly because they are usually replenished with melting snow each year. But if the heat continues to rise, there will be no snow — and therefore no runoff into water reserve areas.

Hotter and Drier — The West's Changed Climate [NRDC via TreeHugger]

This chart, from study #1, shows how your carbon footprint grows when you divorce. The purple (naughty) line are divorced households and their energy use. The blue (nice) lines are families that stayed married. See how divorce makes you an evil oil-guzzling ho?

Global Warming Could Lead to Increased Severe Thunderstorms [PNAS] Storm image courtesy of Karen A. Kosiba.

The Environmental Impact of Divorce [PNAS]