ARMI is all in for Amphibian Week – you can be too!
May 1-7, 2022 is Amphibian Week, an annual underscoring of the importance of amphibians and an opportunity to highlight the many partnerships that work towards amphibian conservation. The USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative is one of several partners committed to planning, presenting and implementing Amphibian Week. Other partners include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, the Amphibian Survival Alliance, the Amphibian Foundation, The Smithsonian Institution, and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy. Three ARMI scientists participate on the Amphibian Week planning team, working on content, developing contacts and developing long-term goals for Amphibian Week such as field trips and meet a herpetologist videos. Overall, ARMI scientists and their Science Centers are involved in a variety of Amphibian Week Activities including tweets about citizen science, facts about frogs and tweets direct from the field, highlighting some of the research about amphibians and the challenges facing them. Amphibian week is also a celebration for people who love amphibians and want to learn more! This year the theme is “What are amphibians?” and each day provides a different opportunity to explore that question. See the Amphibian Week homepage for events!
ARMI research spans a remarkable variety of topics and much of the research conducted by ARMI scientists is relevant to this year’s Amphibian Week topics (see themes and links to related ARMI products below).
Amphibian Week Daily Topics:
May 1: Amphibians Through Time. Although not geologic time, ARMI collects and uses long-term data sets (e.g., 10, 20 or 30 years!) to answer questions about survival, persistence and disease. (ARMI publications: 774, 440, 355, 801, 684, 585)
May 2: Amphibian Superpowers. There are plenty of amphibian “superpowers”, like limb re-generation, freezing during hibernation, neoteny (reproductive adults that retain juvenile characteristics), and biofluorescence.
May 3: Meet an Amphibian. ARMI scientists meet amphibians everyday during the field season. Climate Change, Disease, Drought, Fire, Invasive Species, Management, Monitoring and Population Ecology, Quantitative Developments, Species and their Ecology, Water, Stressors.
May 4: Meet an Amphibian Biologist. ARMI has scientists around the country working on different amphibians.
May 5: Name that Amphibian. ARMI works with taxonomists and geneticists to identify species and to clarify scientific names. ARMI also uses taxonomy as context in studies about a variety of topics from antifungal bacteria to variation in oviposition to conservation. (ARMI Publications: 575, 235, 770)
May 6: Amphibians on the Move. ARMI investigates how and where amphibians move, whether it is within year dispersal among habitats, or longer distance movements.(ARMI Publications: 261, 351, 662, 755, 705)
May 7: Amphibians are important. ARMI was initiated by the U.S. Congress in 2000 because amphibians are important. While scientists have contributed much information that aids conservation efforts, amphibians are still in peril, more so than any other vertebrate. Threats include habitat loss, and disease, among many other stressors, most of which ARMI is currently studying. (ARMI Publications: 382, 827, 435, 541, 656, 718, 792, 651, 691, 776)
