JOURNAL STAR (Lincoln, Nebraska) 12 November 10 Leopard frogs off the hook in Nebraska (Joe Duggan)
Unless you're a highly dedicated nocturnal angler, you probably never knew.
But starting next year, people can no longer plunk down 35 cents for web-footed bait. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recently voted to ban the sale of leopard frogs.
"There are some people who are unhappy about it," said Peter Rohman, co-owner of Wolf Tackle in Lincoln.
Even those who don't own bait buckets should care. Here's why.
The commission acted because amphibians remain at the center of environmental problems that could have ramifications for other wildlife, and perhaps even humans.
Over the past three decades, dozens of frog species have crashed or vanished worldwide. Many more amphibian species are endangered, prompting some scientists to suggest we are witnessing mass extinction. Among them is David Wake, a biology professor at the University of California Berkeley.
"Amphibians have been around for about 250 million years," Wake said in 2008. "They made it through when the dinosaurs didn't. The fact that they're cutting out now should be a lesson for us."
The situation appears less dire in Nebraska, home to 11 frog and toad species. Of those, only plains and northern leopard frogs were sold commercially.
Although the monitoring of amphibians is extremely limited in the state, leopard frog populations appear to be holding their own, said Dennis Ferraro, a herpetologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
At the same time, commercial exploitation of frogs in Nebraska has been light. Five licensed dealers sold fewer than 100 leopard frogs from 2005 to 2008, according to Game and Parks.
The new regulation does not prohibit anglers from catching frogs and using them as bait. Yet Ferraro and commission biologists favor protecting frogs from being sold. Given the widespread declines of frog species in other places, it's prudent to act now, they argue.
"In other states where they are taken out (of the wild) for commercial use, the population doesn't recover," Ferraro said.
Frog disappearance has been the focus of volumes of research. Scientists believe several factors are to blame, including habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, ozone loss and disease.
With their permeable skins, frogs are highly sensitive to contamination and environmental changes. Plus they share some genetic similarities with humans, which adds to their value as an indicator species.
"What happens to indicator species happens to us," Ferraro said.
One of the most common water contaminants in Nebraska -- an agricultural weed killer called Atrazine -- has been linked to problems in frogs. In 2005, Nebraska farmers applied 7.36 million pounds of the weed killer.
University of California Berkeley endocrinologist Tyrone Hayes has published several scientific studies showing how very low levels of Atrazine exposure can disrupt frog sexual development. The herbicide chemically castrates frogs and turns genetically male frogs into females, Hayes has said.
Frogs from York County included in the Berkeley studies revealed nearly one third of male leopard frogs had shrunken testes, Ferraro said. If those frogs don't mate, they could contribute to declines.
The findings prompted Atrazine manufacturer Syngenta to conduct its own studies. The industry research disproved the link, according to Syngenta's website.
In 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency reviewed 17 laboratory and field studies of Atrazine and frogs, concluding the chemical does not adversely affect frogs.
But earlier this year, the EPA launched a re-evaluation of Atrazine's ecological effects, including a potential link between the chemical and cancer.
Questions remain and the investigations continue.
Meanwhile, a few catfish anglers might want to do a bit of research into alternative baits.
Leopard frogs off the hook in Nebraska

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