SAN JUAN – The scientific community in Puerto Rico warns of the danger suffered by four species of coquí, an amphibian native to the island similar to a small frog, whose survival is threatened by climate change and a mushroom, which stalk a national symbol whose typical sound is heard every day at nightfall.
Rafael Joglar, professor of Biology at the University of Puerto Rico, who has studied these animals for decades, explained this Thursday that these four species of coquí run the risk of following the fate of the webbed coquí, the golden coquí and the Eneida coquí, which have not been seen or heard since 1976, 1981 Y 1990, respectively.
The coquí belongs to the class of amphibians, but unlike frogs and toads, the coquí lays its eggs on land, away from water, those who are born miniature specimens without passing p or an aquatic stage of a tadpole.
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The coquí does not have membranes between its toes and the tips of its fingers end in discs that allow them to climb through the vegetation.
“They are very amphibians delicate ”, Joglar stressed, after indicating that because they are endowed with“ bare skin ”they are especially sensitive to climate change in the world, from which Puerto Rico is not escaping.
The biologist specified that in Puerto Rico there were 17 species of coquí, from which we must subtract the three mentioned that disappeared in recent decades, which is why it is time, he said, to call attention so that the same does not happen with the mahogany coquí, the hammerhead coquí, the mountain coquí and the cricket coquí.
To a lesser extent, the situation that the guajón coquí is going through is also worrying , a species adapted to live in caves, known locally as guajonales, whose distribution is limited to the Sierra de Pandura, in the southeast of the island.
Joglar highlighted that climate change is one of the obvious threat factors because it is the cause of less rainfall and therefore less humidity, fundamental for the survival of the coquí.
“Another cause of danger for the coquí is a chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which has been identified as the pathogenic fungus that attacks the skin of the amphibians and has been present in Puerto Rico at least since the decade of 1200, which is how much the webbed coquí is lost ”, he indicated the university professor.
He clarified that, obviously, the coquíes in general, among the that the common call is widely distributed in Puerto Rico, they are not in danger, but rather a threat to those mentioned species that have a determined habitat with a limited geographical extension.
Exclusive species
The species that live on the island can only be found in Puerto Rico, although there are others in different parts of the Caribbean.
“As in the rest of the planet, in Puerto Rico an increasing trend has been documented temperatures and periods of drought, particularly in the seventies and nineties ”, said Joglar.
He stressed that it is not only about the danger of losing some species, with all what that entails, but what this amphibian means. “The coquí is important for ecological, environmental, economic and cultural reasons,” he said.
He recalled that the coquí are the most important nocturnal predators on the island , since they feed mainly on insects and other small invertebrates. If the coquí were missing it would be lethal, since it acts as a biological control of populations of species that are harmful to agriculture, he stressed.
Besides being important predators, they are also prey for many species that feed of them, such as lizards, snakes, birds and many invertebrates, thus being very important in the food webs in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
“But it is not only all this, since it has a emotional component as a symbol of Puerto Rico ”, indicated the scientist.
The coquí is noticed at nightfall throughout Puerto Rico with a melodious sound that causes surprise in the tourist.
The sound of this small amphibian sounds something like a “co-qui, co-qui” that the males emit to warn with the “co “Limits their territory to other specimens, while with the” qui “they call the females and invite them to reproductive activity.
The volume of the sound they emit can be so loud that e is between 92 and 100 decibels, making it a nighttime voice choir show that can hardly be reproduced elsewhere in the world.