THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2003
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2007
NEWS
SCIENCE
Frog population dwindles Deadly fungus affecting amphibians worldwide
3A
BY NATHAN GILL
In the pristine tropical forest of El Valle, Panama, Joe Mendelson saw dozens of frogs bobbing in streams and lying on the ground — all dead. In death, the frogs looked much as they had in life, untouched by wounds, unmarked by predators.
A pandemic fungus killed them;
Batrachocytium dendrobatidis,
or "chytrid" for short. The fungus
is killing amphibians around the
globe in waves.
"The chytrid arrived and wiped out all the amphibians," said Mendelson, a 1997 University of Kansas graduate and now herpetology curator at Zoo Atlanta. "It was horrible. I've had them die in my hand."
According to a document presented at the 2005 Amphibian Conservation Summit in Washington, D.C., at least 122 amphibian species have gone extinct since 1980. Nearly a third of the world's amphibians, about 1,800, are threatened with extinction.
Many herpetologists suspect chytrid, along with habitat loss, pesticides, climate change and other afflictions, is contributing to a worldwide amphibian die-off.
Mendelson said that he had seen chytrid kill 80 percent of a region's amphibians in a matter of months, and eliminate half its amphibian species. He said the pandemic
- some compare it to amphibian AIDS - runs rampant in California, the Rocky Mountains, Mexico, all of Central America, the Andes mountains and eastern Australia.
The fungus spreads by frog-to-frog contact. Microscopic spores, which Mendelson said resemble tadpoles, lodge in the amphibians'
skin. Also, when a frog enters the water, the spores can pop out, travel downstream and infect another host.
Dave McLeod, a graduate teaching assistant in biology at the University, said symptoms could include lethargy, a generally sick disposition and other odd behaviors.
"In an infected frog, if you flip it over, it's unable to right itself," McLeod said.
McLeod said the killer fungus afflicted cells that produced.
keratin, a protein found in both frog and human skin, and the infection prevented frogs from using their skin to breathe.
"You end up seeing frogs in these mummified states, as they're in the process of dying or have
died, where the skin is completely covered with this fungal infection" McLeod said.
Collins called the bulfrog "the cow of the amphibians." It is commercially farmed for frog legs and shipped around the world. Bulfrog tadpoles also can carry chytrid.
"We'd be stupid if we did not pay very close attention to this. Something really terrifying is happening to the planet."
When the disease got really bad. Mendelson said pieces of skin fell off.
"There are bullfrog tadpoles in every fish shipment in the United States," Collins said.
Kansas farmers could unknowingly introduce the fungus into their own fishing ponds, and just one infected adap池 has the potential to infect the rest of the pond's amphibian population, said Collins.
But Collins said a failure to fund data-collecting research in Kansas doesn't mean chytrid is not here. North American bullrogs are common in Kansas and can carry the disease. Bullrogs, however, remain mysteriously chytrid-resistant.
"Everyone wants answers," Collins said. "We don't have answers; there's not enough money."
JOE MENDELSON
Zoo Atlanta herpetology curator
Mendelson didn't know if chytrid was in Kansas. Nor did Joe Collins, a herpetologist with the Kansas Biological Survey.
McLeod saidthatsince amphibians are extremely sensitive to changes in their environments,
"We may be looking at the disappearance of amphibians," he said.
they make good environmental indicators. As their populations are declining worldwide, he said they could be the planet's "canary in the coal mine."
The chytrid disease in frogs is eerily similar to HIV, Ebola, and other diseases like SARS, diseases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta classifies as emerging infectious diseases, said Mendelson.
"Wed be stupid if we did not pay very close attention to this," he said. "Something really terrifying is happening to the planet."
Kansan staff writer Nathan Gill can be contacted at ngill@kansan.com.
— Edited by Katie Sullivan
Student's vibrance remembered
OBITUARY
BY ERICK R. SCHMIDT
Kyle Almeida never let on when he was having a bad day.
That's what friends and co-workers said was the most memorable thing about him.
"He was outgoing, eassongy, said Max Wes, a Wichita junior and one of Almaude's co-workers. "I've never met anyone like him."
Almeida, a Warrensburg, Mo. senior in architecture, died Tuesday in a one-vehicle rollover accident south of Lawrence. He was 23 years old.
Almeida's vibrant personality led him to success on the soccer field of Warrensburg High School, where he graduated in 2002, and at Baker University, where he played a season of the sport. After transferring to the University of Kansas, Almeida began working at the Jet Lag Lounge and also with KU Recycling, where
he met Weis.
Weis said the two made an instant connection.
"He was just easy to be around, the kind that everyone wants to talk to," Weis said.
While working at KU Recycling together, Weis and Almeida both got puppies and started a friendly rivalry between
of Warrensburg. He is survived by his parents, Rich and Liz Montano Almeida; a sister, Haley, of Savannah,
"He was just easy to be around, the kind that everyone wants to talk to."
MAX WEIS Wichita junior
the dogs. Almeida boasted about his pit bull Mia.
"He always joked that Mia could beat up my dog if they got in a fight," Weis said. "It was a joke, but we always had fun with that."
Services for Alminea were held Saturday at First Presbyterian Church
617  N. Maguire St., Warrensburg, Mo.
, 64093
Memorial contributions can be sent to the Kyle Almela Memorial Fund in care of Sweeney Phillips and Holden Funeral Home,
Ga, two grandmothers, three aunts, and three uncles.
Kansan staff writer Erick R.
Schmidt can be contacted at eschmid@kansan.com.
Edited by Ashley Thompson
>> STATE
Former teacher pleads no contest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLATHE — A former teacher will spend two months in jail for having three third-grade girls take nude photos of each other in the school bathroom.
Neal Byron Lemarcis, now a stay-at-nome father, pleaded no contest last year in Johnson County District Court to two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child.
Under a plea deal, defense and prosecuting attorneys had recommended that Lenarcic serve 45 days of "shock time" in jail. Instead, Johnson County District Judge James Franklin Davis sentenced Lenarcic on Friday to 60 days of "shock time" in the county jail.
Davis veered from the plea deal after Lenarcie reasserted earlier claims that it was the girls' idea, not
his, to take the pictures. He apologized for not stopping it and reporting them.
"I shouldn't have laughed it off as kids being kids." Lennaric said.
Davis expressed concern about Lenarci's statement, which prompted defense attorney Dionne Scheff to explain that her client's no-contest plea meant only that he agreed there was enough evidence to convict him.
"I don't think leniency is appropriate," Davis said in ordering the longer sentence.
Lenarcic, who now lives in Washington state, will be on probation for 60 months after he finishes his jail sentence. Conditions of his probation include 300 hours of community service, no teaching or working with children, and no unsupervised contact with anyone
under 18, except for his 7-month-old son.
If he violates probation, he faces 26 months in prison.
The allegations date to the spring of 2002 when Lenaric taught at Harmony Elementary School in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.
Two girls, third graders at the time, testified in June 2005 that they took pictures of each other and a third girl inside a school bathroom, using a digital camera. One girl said Lenarcic asked them to take the pictures of their private areas.
The girls testified that Lenarice rewarded them with "tickets", which students could use to buy such things as candy and school supplies.
When the allegations came to light in 2004, Lenarcic was living in suburban St. Louis.
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
GET NAKED Redefining Intimacy
A four week look at dating marriage and fig leaves
Tuesdays @ 8:00 p.m.
February 6th, 13th, 20th, 27
Come watch
KU vs Mizzou Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at Abe & Jakes
Ambassador of India to the United States
Ronen Sen
The Ambassador will give a short presentation on india-U.S. relations, followed by questions and answers.
Please join us for this special event
10:30 am, on Friday February 9, 2007
Big 12 Room of the Kansas Union
Textbook Task Force
would like to remind you to buy, sell, AND trade your textbooks on the online book exchange. Located in the KU portal under the Community tab.
KU College Republicans
Guest Speaker: Graig Campbell.
Chair of Douglas County Republicans
First meeting of the semester!
Tuesday February 6th at
7:00pm.
English Room.
6th Floor Kansas Union
Students Tutoring for Literacy
*All foods will be accepted and donations will be distributed to the local tutoring and service organizations.
What: Book Drive!!!
When: Everyday until Friday.
February 9th
Where: Residence Halls & CCO office in the Kansas Union.
--for more information contact the IC MEDICAL at M67 0134
Sexuality Education Committee Presents
Thursdays 6:00, 8:40pm
Beginning February 1 for 10 sessions at the ICM
Human Sexuality in Everyday Life
With Dr. Dennis Dailey
KU Professor of Social Welfare
This non-course course is designed with the intention of the college, and given permission in mind, with a focus on social development and awareness of their lives, how it is presently experienced and expressed, and what might occur in the continuum of health, ability and well-being.
Registration for the TCMA on the first 50pm,
8pm, 11am, and New Sumner SNCW is required to be entered in the form below.
Informational meeting to discuss plans for the sensory
Tomorrow, february 6th @ 4:00 p.m.
Walnut Room, Kansas Union
If you are interested in volunteering or in more information
about our program, please stop by!!
Questions/ Comments/
Contact us at growkko.edu
February 5th,2007
2007 KU Jewish Film Series
*e-brytien 13 - NOBODY'S BUSINESS*
7:30PM - Woodford Auditorium - Kansas Union
**filmmaker** Alan Barber expires the details of his father's life,
and he has to learn how to deal with it after the accruing. **Co-sponsored with the Department of**
American Studies.
February 6 - FREE ZONE
7:30P - Aderson Auditorium - Kansas Union
Natalie Fortman stars as a woman who flees her Israeli
rancies and whips up in Jordans's Free Zone. Co-sponsored by
Sage Foundation.
funded by:
STUDENT SENATE
February 20 - WHEN DO WE EAT?
7:30PM - Allison Auditorium - Kansas Union
Say, Drives and Matrice Ball Soon. A Family Passover
Session on the Pathway. An Intro to
perspectives on the Pathway. Professor Huey Blue will
speak.
7:30P M - Aldershot Bankruptcy - Kansas Union
Bouffard Fire - Two new on-site labs and history
museum in Lafayette, Missouri
Helping Small Town Students Succeed
Join us for events throughout the semester!
!! From trips to the pumpkin patch or special gallery tours, from our mentoring program to service projects we are here for YOU!!
All are welcome, membership is free, and meetings and event times vary.
For more information, check out our website
(http://www.ku.edu/~connect)
or email us at kconnections@ku.edu.
Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity
Open Meeting Tuesday, February 6th 6:00-7:00 p.m. in the Centennial Room. 6th Floor Kansas Union
Email padukans@ku.edu fo more information.
www.advising.ku.edu/phialphadelta
KU Sports Marketing Club 1 Ticket-$3
5 Tickets - $14
28
On campus rattle for
Dickey
10 Tickets- $ 28
On campus rattle for COURTSIDE KU vs TEXAS TICKETS Benefit for the Health Care Access Clinic Where: Wescoe Beach, Monday - Thursday