WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:26.000 Did you know, over 40% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, while hundreds 00:26.000 --> 00:32.160 of species have already gone extinct? And scientists are attributing this to changes in climate 00:32.160 --> 00:38.000 and habitat. But what exactly is happening to the habitat of our frog and toad friends? 00:38.000 --> 00:43.000 And what can we do about it? Shhh, the show is starting! 00:48.000 --> 00:53.000 Yeah, it's disgusting. Do I mean have you ever seen it like this? 00:53.000 --> 00:57.000 Well, no, never. Who knows what it'll be like for our kids? 00:57.000 --> 01:01.000 Or our kids' kids? We are already seeing weird stuff. 01:01.000 --> 01:06.000 What's that got to do with the pond? Everything. Each year it's warmer. 01:06.000 --> 01:11.000 Okay, and warmer water means more algae. More algae means less water. 01:11.000 --> 01:15.000 Before you know it, the pond will be completely dried out and will just be these dried husks 01:15.000 --> 01:21.000 spaking in the sun. Okay, time out. That was a play called pond life. 01:21.000 --> 01:26.000 From the Climate Change Theater Action Global Festival. But we'll catch up with those 01:26.000 --> 01:32.000 to fabulous frogs later. Right now, I want to figure out how these significant changes to the ecosystem 01:32.000 --> 01:38.000 affect frogs and toads, and how we can avoid this. 01:38.000 --> 01:44.000 Let's hop on over to the lab to meet up with some researchers conducting a study on how 01:44.000 --> 01:48.000 winter temperatures impact tadpoles in the spring. 01:48.000 --> 01:54.000 Winter is really important for amphibians because how winter temperatures change influence 01:54.000 --> 02:00.000 how much energy they use over winter. Amphibians have this adaptation where they can freeze solid. 02:00.000 --> 02:05.000 What? Yeah, so they could freeze completely solid to deal with cold temperatures. 02:05.000 --> 02:10.000 But if the temperatures are warm during the winter, they thaw, and then they refreeze, 02:10.000 --> 02:14.000 and they thaw, and they refreeze, and that's really, really energetically costly. 02:14.000 --> 02:19.000 When spring comes and they want to reproduce, make more tadpoles, they have less energy 02:19.000 --> 02:24.000 to give to that next generation. Winter leads into spring, and that transition 02:24.000 --> 02:30.000 is just an incredibly dynamic time of the year where the animals have evolved to know 02:30.000 --> 02:35.000 what time of the year it is. There's lots of food web interactions happening at the same time, right? 02:35.000 --> 02:40.000 I mean, the frogs need food, but the frogs also might be food. We call it phenology, 02:40.000 --> 02:43.000 that's where the timing of these organismal events happening. 02:43.000 --> 02:46.000 And so some years they all match up really nicely, and everyone has food, 02:46.000 --> 02:53.000 and some years you get weird weather events where we call it mismatch, where one population might grow, 02:53.000 --> 02:58.000 but their food source didn't, and so it gets sort of like mismatch in timing. 02:58.000 --> 03:03.000 Minor changes in temperature actually can have huge effects down the line, 03:03.000 --> 03:08.000 and oftentimes it's cryptic until you understand the ecology of it. 03:08.000 --> 03:13.000 And not to mention, when you have these late winter storms, oftentimes there are pollutants involved. 03:13.000 --> 03:19.000 So things like road salts are used to control ice, and when these pollutants run into the water, 03:19.000 --> 03:24.000 it can add another layer of stressor for these amphibians that are also dealing with changing temperatures. 03:24.000 --> 03:29.000 When there are salts in the water, tadpoles are more susceptible to their parasites. 03:29.000 --> 03:33.000 Oh, diseases are emerging at unprecedented rates. Why? 03:33.000 --> 03:38.000 Is it temperatures that are not different? Is it pollutants that are in the system? 03:38.000 --> 03:41.000 So those are some of the questions that we ask in this lab. 03:41.000 --> 03:47.000 Well, I also wanted to ask about that, because I think of lab, and I think of test tubes, and chemicals, and lab coats, 03:47.000 --> 03:53.000 but you have kitty pools. What is happening in this really cool set up here? What are you studying? 03:53.000 --> 04:01.000 Here, what we're looking at is how early life conditions influence susceptibility to disease and road salts. 04:01.000 --> 04:04.000 What have you learned so far? 04:04.000 --> 04:09.000 Imagine a scenario where a mom lays its eggs, and then you get this winter storm that comes in. 04:09.000 --> 04:15.000 It freezes, and then it warms up again. Those tadpoles underwent a late winter storm. 04:15.000 --> 04:18.000 Another set of tadpoles, there isn't that late winter storm. 04:18.000 --> 04:25.000 So now you have those two groups. If you explore the group that went under that late winter storm to road salts, 04:25.000 --> 04:33.000 they had that extra stressor. They're much more susceptible to road salts than those that never had to deal with that late winter storm. 04:33.000 --> 04:41.000 So if winter spring transition temperatures continue to change, where there are these late, false spring storms, 04:41.000 --> 04:46.000 it can endanger tadpoles and make them more susceptible to pollutants in their environment. 04:46.000 --> 04:54.000 Changes in the winter to spring phenology have cascading impacts on amphibians, the food web, and the entire ecosystem. 04:54.000 --> 05:05.000 Many of which we still don't understand. So what can we do to learn more about the changes happening in the wetland ecosystems and two amphibian life cycles? 05:05.000 --> 05:16.000 Let's meet up with a family in northern Wisconsin that volunteers with the DNR's Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey to learn more about how changes in phenology are affecting amphibians. 05:16.000 --> 05:25.000 Frogs are amazing. We're here as part of the Frog Survey and we're here primarily looking for actually listening for frogs. 05:25.000 --> 05:34.000 When I first started doing the Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey, I did not know anything about frogs and toads and which was what. 05:34.000 --> 05:45.000 So the DNR's website has a wealth of information. I could listen to calls and learn how to identify the sounds I was hearing. 05:45.000 --> 05:52.000 You don't have to have any experience to do this. It's really simple. The data sheet is up. Anybody can take a little time and learn how to identify frogs. 05:52.000 --> 05:58.000 You don't really hear about the stuff anywhere else. It's so in-person. It's the best way to hear about it, learn about it. 05:58.000 --> 06:02.000 Can you walk me through kind of what a survey night looks like for you? 06:02.000 --> 06:09.000 We usually get our gear on. We get our data sheet ready and our little frog call cheat sheet. 06:09.000 --> 06:18.000 We hop in the car and we drive over and as we get closer we roll down our windows so we can start to hear the frogs through the just open windows. 06:18.000 --> 06:28.000 We get out quietly and we listen. We write down the number of species that we hear and how many. 06:28.000 --> 06:33.000 And we record the wind speed, the temperature, water temperature, is it overcast? 06:33.000 --> 06:36.000 What is the purpose? What do you use the data for? 06:36.000 --> 06:45.000 With consistent data gathering over a long period of time, they contract the population and distribution of frogs throughout the state of Wisconsin. 06:45.000 --> 06:49.000 It just shows if they're being affected, everything else is being affected. 06:49.000 --> 07:03.000 Thanks to volunteers, researchers have decades worth of data on amphibian phenology that helps them determine when frogs and toes are emerging in the spring, what their populations are, and where certain species are located in the state. 07:03.000 --> 07:09.000 This data helps scientists determine what is causing population declines and helps lead us to solutions. 07:09.000 --> 07:16.000 Now let's see if we can meet up with those two frogs, I mean actresses, to talk about their riveting play. 07:16.000 --> 07:22.000 So what is the CCTA? What is the climate change theater action festival? 07:22.000 --> 07:32.000 Yeah, so it's like a worldwide global festival that brings together playwrights to put together and write like short plays that have to do with current climate issues. 07:32.000 --> 07:38.000 How do you think artists and creatives can use their skills to help with climate change? 07:38.000 --> 07:46.000 I see theater as an amazing platform to bring up any issue under the sun because people like art. 07:46.000 --> 07:58.000 And so if we're able to use art to begin conversations about things that are so prevalent and so important such as climate change, I think that's a really important aspect of art. 07:58.000 --> 08:12.000 I think what was cool is I was able to sort of live the theme of the play of like do something, do what you can, and what I was able to do was perform and put on art with my friends. 08:12.000 --> 08:17.000 The only thing we can do is what we can do. 08:19.000 --> 08:21.000 What do you mean? 08:21.000 --> 08:29.000 I know it seems overwhelming, but this pond, our lives, you know, it's all we got. 08:29.000 --> 08:31.000 And we got to do what we can. 08:31.000 --> 08:34.000 Well, we're still here to make things better. 08:34.000 --> 08:36.000 You know how else are things going to change? 08:36.000 --> 08:41.000 We can all do something to help protect amphibians and their habitats. 08:41.000 --> 08:50.000 You can start at home by using less salt on your driveway or sidewalk in the winter or become an advocate in your community for protecting ponds from pollutants, 08:50.000 --> 08:52.000 like salt and other chemicals. 08:52.000 --> 08:58.000 Participate in citizen science programs that gather data or help educate others and spread awareness. 08:58.000 --> 09:03.000 And don't forget, art is a wonderful way to help people understand and empathize. 09:03.000 --> 09:07.000 We are all capable of making positive change. 09:07.000 --> 09:09.000 You don't know what ripple effect it's going to have. 09:09.000 --> 09:10.000 Exactly. 09:10.000 --> 09:11.000 Did you get me? 09:11.000 --> 09:12.000 The pond? 09:12.000 --> 09:13.000 Oh, wait, that was good! 09:13.000 --> 09:14.000 That was good! 09:14.000 --> 09:16.000 We're going to say it again and then we'll laugh. 09:16.000 --> 09:17.000 The ripple effect. 09:17.000 --> 09:19.000 Oh, my God!