"Scientists Say We Are ‘on Pace’ To Cause a Mass Extinction of Frogs"

"While there’s been extensive research attempting to predict the future of Earth’s vulnerable plants and animals, there have been comparatively few studies investigating the extinctions that have occurred in the past.

Looking backward is an important method of understanding how extinction rates have changed over time, the environmental factors that have influenced them and how seriously they have affected Earth’s ecosystems. Now, a researcher from Macquarie University in Australia has published a study examining recent extinctions within two vulnerable groups of animals — reptiles and amphibians — and the results are cause for alarm. Most notably, they indicate that approximately 200 frog species have already gone extinct, and hundreds more may be on their way out.

John Alroy, a professor of biological sciences at Macquarie University and the paper’s author, said he was inspired to conduct the study when a journalist asked him what scientists know about the number of species that have already gone extinct. 'I looked for a paper where they do this, and I didn’t find one,' Alroy said."

Chelsea Harvey reports for the Washington Post October 5, 2015.