MYL frog

ESC America's Top 10 General Information Nominating Organizations Please Use this Column to Provide the Requested Info...

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ESC America's Top 10

General Information

Nominating Organizations Please Use this Column to Provide the Requested Information

Organization & web address Contact name (for species info) Address

Center for Biological Diversity http://www.biologicaldiversity.org Tierra Curry PO Box 11374

Email & phone

[email protected] 928-522-3681

Communications staff contact name

Tierra Curry

Email & phone

[email protected] 928-522-3681

General Species Information Common name, genus, and species Geographic range Conservation status

Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana muscosa ) California, Nevada Endangered

Remaining population size

Unknown but very small. Ninety percent of remaining sites support fewer than 10 adults.

Report Questions Do you have high resolution photos that can be Yes: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/resourcespace/?c=333&k=01d31bbec8 used in the report? No Will you want printed reports? If so how many? If your species is selected, will you use the report as a tool to organize around the species and/or Yes, we have an active campaign to save this species and this report will boost that effort. publicize its plight? Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why the species is interesting, why it matters, why decision-makers + the public should care.)

Interesting facts about the species

Mountain yellow-legged frogs, named for their bright sun yellow to pale-lemon colored undersides, live only in alpine lakes that are deep enough not to dry up in summer or freeze entirely in winter. Their eyes have beautiful gold irises. The frogs can be numerous colors including green, brown, red, gray, or yellow, and they have dork spots on their backs. Females are bigger than males, growing to be up to three inches long, and the largest females lay the most eggs.

Mountain yellow-legged frogs live in glaciated alpine lakes, ponds, tarns, springs and streams that do not have predatory fish. The frogs breed in June or July and eggs hatch within several weeks. Tadpoles at high elevations or subject to severe winters and they Additional background information to complete the may spend three entire winters as a tadpole before transforming into adults during their species profile in the report fourth summer. Adults hibernate in water during the coldest months, under ice or near shore under ledges and in underwater crevasses. Adults feed on terrestrial insects and adult aquatic insects: beetles, flies, wasps, bees, ants, true bugs and spiders. They also eat Yosemite toad and Pacific chorus frog tadpoles and can be cannibalistic. Tadpoles graze on algae and diatoms along rocky bottoms of streams, lakes and ponds.

ESC America's Top 10 Frogs have successfully thrived on the planet since the time of the dinosaurs, but they are now one of the most imperiled groups of animals on the planet, with more than 30 percent of them facing extinction. The mountain yellow-legged frog was once very What are the most important messages that should common in high alpine lakes, but due to changes human have made to the environment, be communicated about this species' decline? it is nearly extinct. The frog lives in wilderness areas, yet even those areas have been degraded due to human activities. People are changing the planet so much that even frogs in wilderness areas are in danger of being erased if humans do not act to save them. In 2000 we filed a petition to gain Endangered Species Act protection for the mountain yellow-legged frog. We filed a series of lawsuits to force action on the petition, and the frog ultimately gained ESA protection. In 2006 we filed a lawsuit to force the state of Is your NGO working to save the species? If yes, how? California to change its program to stock trout in sensitive amphiibian habitats. In 2013 we filed a lawsuit to force the development of an official recovery plan to help save the frog from extinction. Individuals can help save frogs by making lifestyle changes that reduce their carbon footprint such as reducing meat consumption and buying less stuff, by not using How can individuals help? Please be as specific as possible. pesticides, and by writing a letter to their state wildlife agency asking that predatory fish not be stocked in lakes that support endangered amphibians. Is there anything else that governments or others could/should/are doing to save the species? Criteria-Specific Questions The mountain yellow-legged frog was once the most abundant amphibian in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Only a few decades ago, it was difficult to walk around many of California’s alpine lakes without tripping over these diminutive “mountain gnomes.” Historically, mountain yellow-legged frogs were found throughout the higher elevations in Describe the specific threat(s) to the species. Detail the Transverse Ranges in Southern California and in the Sierra Nevada of California and the current and projected decline of the species. Nevada. The Sierra Nevada population is now extirpated from Nevada and from large portions of the historical range in the Sierra Nevada of California. The Southern California Give historic population numbers. Cite any population is now extirpated on Palomar and Breckenridge mountains and in much of the substantiating scientific studies. former range elsewhere in Southern California and the southern Sierra Nevada. More than 93 percent of northern and central Sierra Nevada populations, and more than 95 percent of southern Sierra Nevada and Southern California populations, are already extinct. The vast majority of remaining sites support fewer than 10 adults. Indicate if there is an associated political threat. For Protection for the frog and its habitat is being opposed by the recreational fishing industry, counties, irrigation districts, off-road vehicle riders, the Western Mining Alliance, instance, is this species being actively attacked by and others. an industry group or member of Congress?

ESC America's Top 10 Outline and describe the extent of the threat. For instance, is it threatening the only habitat of a small The mountain yellow-leg frog is threatened throughout its range by various factors including disease, climate change, introduced trout, pesticides, recreation, and livestock remaining population? Is it a current, eminent, or grazing. future threat? Cite any substantiating scientific studies.

Judge's score for severity and extent of threat. Provide information on the benefits the species provides, such as economic, medicinal, or ecosystem services. Detail the ecological and scientific importance of the species. Note if it is a keystone species and describe Frogs play an important role in the food web. Tadpoles consume algae and improve water quality and adults consume insects and are in turn eaten by numerous larger the extent of its role in the biodiversity of its animals including birds, mammals, and snakes. environment. Cite any substantiating scientific studies. Could the species be considered an "ambassador" which can be used to communicate the threats that are occurring broadly to a group of species or an ecosystem? (An example would be a frog that represents the decline of amphibians. Or a FL species that represents the decline of the Florida Keys.) If yes, please detail how it is an ambassador and name the other species being represented .

The plight of the mountain yellow-legged frog symbolizes the plight of many frogs throughout the country, as more than one-third of amphibians are facing extinction due to human-made changes to the environment. Other frogs that are on the brink of extinction but that were once common include the Arroyo Toad, Yosemite Toad, and Oregon Spotted Frog.

Judge’s score for importance of species. Final Judge's Score Please submit to Nancy Welch at [email protected] by April 4th. Thank you for participating in the 2014 Top Ten Report. References U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). 2013. Endangered Status for the Sierra Nevada YellowLegged Frog and the Northern Distinct Population Segment of the Mountain YellowLegged Frog, and Threatened Status for the Yosemite Toad, Proposed Rule. 78 FR 24472. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). 2002. Determination of Endangered Status for the Southern California Distinct Vertebrate Population Segment of the Mountain YellowLegged Frog (Rana muscosa). 67 FR 44382.

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