New research from ecologists at MSU and collaborators in Ecuador is setting the stage for an unprecedented underdog story—or, if you will, an underfrog story.
With a combination of literature review and fieldwork, the team has shown that as many as 32 harlequin frog species, once thought to be possibly extinct, are still surviving in the wild.
“I can’t tell you how special it is to hold something we never thought we’d see again,” said Kyle Jaynes, the lead author of the new study published in the journal Biological Conservation. Jaynes is a doctoral student in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Program.
The team’s work paints a brighter picture for the future of these frogs and biodiversity in general. “We want people to walk away from this with a glimmer of hope that we can still address the problems of the biodiversity crisis,” said Jaynes.