{"id":5907,"date":"2013-07-11T08:27:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=5907"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:24:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:24:06","slug":"cricketfrog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=5907","title":{"rendered":"N.C.\u2019s Southern Cricket Frog populations declining"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Southern cricket frog. (photo by Jonathan Perry Micancin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A recent U.S. Geological Survey report<\/a> confirmed that the nation\u2019s amphibians, including frogs, toads and salamanders, are disappearing \u201cat an alarming and rapid rate.\u201d A UNC biologist has found that North Carolina\u2019s Southern Cricket Frog populations mirror this disturbing national trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a steady flow of bad news for amphibians,\u201d said Jonathan Perry Micancin [mih-CAN-sin], a visiting lecturer and recent Ph.D. graduate in UNC\u2019s Biology Department in the College of Arts and Sciences. The cold-blooded animals require wetlands to breed and surrounding forests for food and shelter. They play an important role in nature\u2019s food chain, Micancin said, eating insects and providing food for larger animals, including snakes and birds.<\/p>\n

For his dissertation and ongoing research, Micancin studied two different but co-occurring species in North Carolina, the Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans<\/em>) and the Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus<\/em>). The northern species occupies the Piedmont as far west as the Appalachian foothills, while the southern species is found in the state\u2019s Coastal Plain, between the Piedmont and the coast. The two overlap, a condition biologists call \u201csympatry,\u201d in the upper Coastal Plain.<\/p>\n

\"northerncfmicancin\"
The Northern cricket frog. (photo by Jonathan Perry Micancin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Micancin and his students searched for the tiny frogs \u2013 they are no more than 1 \u00bc inches long \u2013 in wetlands throughout most of the state, from Crowders Mountain, near Charlotte, to Carolina Beach, south of Wilmington, to Merchants Millpond, in Gates County, and Lake Waccamaw in Columbus County. He used their distinctive calls as identifiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two species are hard to identify visually because they are so small and well-camouflaged.\u201d said Micancin. \u201cFortunately, their calls are very different: Southern Cricket Frogs \u2018chirp\u2019 and Northern Cricket Frogs \u2018rattle.\u2019 \u201d Using statistical analysis, he confirmed that it is \u201ceasier to identify them by sound than by sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Micancin and colleagues looked at specimens collected in the 1960s and housed in the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, then compared those to field data they collected over several summers. While the Northern Cricket Frog remains in many places, the Southern Cricket Frog has disappeared from the upper Coastal Plain between the Chowan River and the Cape Fear River.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet why this is happening, but we can expect that it does not bode well for amphibians and other animals that share their habitats, including humans,\u201d Micancin said.<\/p>\n

It may be that the Northern Cricket Frog is \u201cbullying out the Southern Cricket Frogs,\u201d which are slightly smaller, but human activity may also play an important role, he said. For example, the Southern Cricket Frog may be more sensitive to development than the Northern Cricket Frog.\u00a0 Climate change also could be affecting both species, which aren\u2019t able to survive droughts or winter temperature fluctuations as well as other frogs, he added.<\/p>\n

Micancin, whose family has lived for generations in northeastern North Carolina, pointed to significant changes to the Great Dismal Swamp and other natural habitats in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver recent decades, as the state has grown, we\u2019ve seen more roads and parking lots, rural residential developments, larger farms and clear-cutting of pinelands,\u201d he said, all of which are affecting the habitats of cricket frogs and other amphibians, especially in northeastern counties.<\/p>\n

Yet through his family\u2019s heritage, Micancin is keenly aware of the high poverty and unemployment rates there, and the critical need for more economic opportunities \u2013 which usually means more development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a balancing act, and we need more research to understand how to preserve habitats for hunting, fishing and conservation while providing for the economic needs of North Carolinians. I\u2019m hopeful but realistic about how successful we will be.\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Listen to the cricket frogs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent U.S. Geological Survey report confirmed that the nation\u2019s amphibians, including frogs, toads and salamanders, are disappearing \u201cat an alarming and rapid rate.\u201d A UNC biologist has found that North Carolina\u2019s Southern Cricket Frog populations mirror this disturbing national trend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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