The Plague of Frogs

jpbostic writes "According to this article on MSNBC, ag folks in Hawaii were considering using powdered caffeine to help rid themselves of an infestation of frogs from Puerto Rico. The EPA's application regulations apparently proved too burdensome and the stuff sits in a warehouse. If the EPA is really concerned with the danger, they should investigate the coffee in some restaurants *quoth the caffeine addict*. :-)"

Re:Frogs on caffeine

[ahaning]

As with most topics, a cursory search of Google popped up this [washington.edu] link. The relevant part:

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that interferes with a neurotransmitter in the brain called adenosine. Caffeine also acts at other places in the body to increase heart rate, constrict blood vessels, relax air passages, and affect muscles. An overdose of caffeine is lethal to the coqui frog.

There is a link [hear.org] there to another page with examples of what they sound like. Though I'm rather against killing anything just to kill it, these ARE an alien species...so...erg. It's still a tough call. Damn conscience!

Photos

[loconet]

This page [hear.org] has some photos and more information about the frogs. They're very small!!

Re:It's not giving caffeine to them....

[Medevo]

I would wonder if the frogs would set up rehab centers, or would they just take it cold turkey.

Seriously Caffeine withdrawal in frogs could be quite a interesting phenomena,
The website Neuroscience for Kids - Frogs and Caffeine [washington.edu] mentions that a overdose of caffeine is lethal to frogs.

I would only wonder how?

Medevo

Caffeine toxicity - material safety data

[Seth Finkelstein]

The Material Safety Data Sheet for Caffeine [216.239.39.100] has a lot of good information

Caffeine is toxic to the blood, lungs, nervous system, and mucous membranes. It is a human poison by ingestion and is a slight irritant of the skin and eye. The oral LD50 for caffeine is 127 mg/kg (mouse); the oral TD Lo for man is reported as 13 mg/kg.

Signs/Symptoms of Overexposure:
Exposure to ingested caffeine can cause convulsions, muscle spasms, tremors, poor muscle coordination, vomiting, and blood pressure increase. Continued excessive use in tea or coffee may lead to digestive disturbances, constipation, palpitations, shortness of breath, cardiac disorders, and depressed mental states.

Apparently, you'd have to drink a lot of coffee to get a lethal dose. But it does seem to possible to kill yourself (or approach it) with caffeine pills.

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]

Australian Cane Toads

[Permission Denied]

Years ago, my high school biology teacher liked to show this one film on Australian Cane Toads [austmus.gov.au]. Basically, these buggers were introduced intentionally in Australia to eat a particular kind of insect that was destroying crops. Problem was, these toads will eat anything, so they didn't go for the insects that would stay up high on the crops when they could eat anything else that crawled by.

They had a HUGE explosion of these things. This movie showed them in hoards. It also had this one scene with this hippie - the guy had a VW van and his hobby was to go around smashing these things. He would swerve the van from one side of the street to the other, running over the toads which would make a very satisfying pop. This hippie is the only thing I remember from high school biology.

So, my point is that these toads were introduced for an ecological reason (pest control), but apparently these guys didn't understand ecology all that well. Of course, this Hawaii thing is different since the frogs weren't introduced intentionally, but it seems toads/frogs have a talent for growing explosively.

Re:About coqui

[Anonymous Coward]

They wren't THAT loud.

In their natural home there are predators which prevent the frogs from getting too loud--if you have too loud of a mating call then you get eaten because you can be more easily located. On the other hand, the louder the call the more females a frog can attract, so ultimately a balance is achieved. In Hawaii there is no noise level restriction and the louder frogs mate more often.

Seems like more ways of getting rid of bugs is a GOOD thing.

Umm, how about pollenating insects (not only bees do this): like fruit and flowers? Perhaps what you really want is a more selective removal of insects such as some mosquitoes (not all of them, just the blood-suckers). Not as easy as bombing them all with DDT, is it?

Questionable Accuracy

[gasp]

I live on Maui, and my experience here goes back to the early 1970's.

According to this story, "There are no naturally occurring reptiles or terrestrial amphibians, no snakes, iguanas, toads or salamanders in Hawaii. Until the coqui arrived, it was a frog-free world."

Umm. No. It says the Coqui arrived around 1990. I wouldn't know about that. Nobody I know here has heard of these frogs. Perhaps the 40+ infestations claimed on Maui are simply places I don't go. HOWEVER...

No other reptiles? No amphibians, toad or frogs before 1990? Totally false. For one thing, these islands are famous for having Geckos. We've got hundreds of them right in our yard. There's more than one within 20 feet of me right now. And we have other salamander-like lizards here than geckos. I'm not a biologist. And I suppose the frogs or toads I played with as a kid 30 years ago weren't here either back then.

I don't know when or how frogs, toads, geckos, salamanders and such got here, but it was long before 1990. I'm sure there is some basis for truth in this story, but I've managed to escape hearing even one of these tens of thousands of 90-decibel frogs on Maui. That doesn't mean they aren't here, just that the story sure doesn't reflect any common knowledge here as far as I can tell after discussing this story with my friends.