By MARYEL PRYCE Associated Press , OLIVER BUTLER Associated Press , and OF ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Associated Press

HONEOYE, N.Y. — On a rainy March evening, John Bateman puts on his boots and a headlamp and heads to a wetland cut through by a busy road. As he walks, he scans the pavement for spring peepers, toads, salamanders and newts making their slow way as they migrate to new habitat each spring, and leans down occasionally to help guide one across.

It’s a small act that makes a big difference for these amphibians, who need different habitats for different stages of their life cycle — sometimes wetlands, sometimes drier uplands. Roads often separate these habitats, and migrating amphibians can get squished.

They already face challenges from habitat lost to development. That’s especially true for vernal pools, the small pools that show up each spring in forested ecosystems as snow melt and rainwater collect at low points on the ground. These pools hold water as late as July, and provide essential breeding habitat for amphibians like salamanders and frogs.

Larger wetlands can enjoy federal protections, but not the vernal pools, which are too small and temporary.

“Unfortunately, with urban sprawl and development, a lot of the forests are being cleared for new housing developments as people move out of the cities and into the suburbs,” said Bateman, a professor of environmental conservation and horticulture at Finger Lakes Community College. “When they clear these forest habitats, vernal pools are going to be buried and become new houses, condominiums, and neighborhoods.”

___

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between Rochester Institute of Technology and The Associated Press.

___

The U.S. Geological Survey calls amphibian declines “a global phenomenon” and one that’s been underway in the U.S. since at least the 1960s. The agency said populations are dropping almost 4% each year in the U.S.

Development isn’t the only threat. Amphibians are being affected by Earth’s changing climate. The Appalachian region is particularly rich in salamander species, and with temperatures rising, their range is shifting northward, Bateman said.

That concerns him.

“At one point you hit the top and there is nowhere else to go,” Bateman said.

A warming climate also requires cold-blooded amphibians to spend more time hunting to get the food they need to maintain their metabolism, said Karen Lips, a University of Maryland biology professor whose research found salamanders becoming smaller as a result.

Bateman isn’t the only conservationist working to help amphibians.

Margot Fass owns A Frog House, a center for frog advocacy in Pittsford, New York. In April, she raised money and worked with 70 volunteers to build three vernal pools as part of Save the Frogs Day. The pools should help amphibians, but will also be a source of water for birds and other wildlife.

Fass grows animated as she talks about chemical-free gardens and their importance to amphibians: “One spray of pesticides can kill a frog within an hour. It’s just horrible.”

Both she and Bateman are strong believers in educating their communities to help amphibians. They often give talks in schools, libraries and to various groups.

“It’s amazing how few people really know that frogs are endangered or that a third of them have gone extinct,” Fass said.

The Genesee Land Trust, a not-for-profit conservation organization, is another active member in preserving and protecting land in the greater Rochester region. It owns Cornwall Preserve in Pultneyville, New York, on the edge of Lake Ontario. The trust bought the 77-acre property in 2016, becoming the first non-farmers to own the land in 200 years. They’re preserving the historical farmland and in doing so have restored some wetlands and vernal pools.

“The wetland immediately served a population of birds after we first started digging,” said Elliotte Bowerman, the trust’s director of communications.

Catching amphibians may just be a nostalgic childhood memory for most, but for Bateman it never lost its magic. He believes preserving wetlands and vernal pools is critical not only for the amphibians and the environment, but for the next generation to experience the childlike wonder of discovering these hidden creatures.

“I think that the future generations are absolutely going to be at a loss to not have those experiences that I did as a child, to have that connection with nature,” he said.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Researchers evaluated the health of more than 8,000 amphibian species around the world and determined that nearly 41% — 2,871 in total — are globally threatened. The number of threatened species has grown by nearly 3% since 1980, as habitat loss, climate change and disease push more animals toward the brink.

“To survive in the face of this rapidly changing climate here on Earth, amphibians must adapt to these changes or move elsewhere,” said a lead author of the paper, Kelsey Neam, a species and metrics coordinator for the non-governmental organization Re:wild. “In many of these cases, changes are happening too quickly for them to adapt, and habitat fragmentation is creating barriers that make moving around extremely challenging.”

Amphibians are vertebrates like frogs, toads and salamanders. They can inhabit both land and water, and they typically breathe through their skin, which is often moist to the touch.

The new study is a comprehensive view of their plight, assessing more than 93% of known amphibian species. It shows how humans are reshaping the world at a rapid rate and how climate change — a growing worry for amphibians — overlaps with other concerns, like land conversion and spread of disease, to put them on a dark path.

The report relies on data from the second Global Amphibian Assessment, which was completed last year. More than 1,000 subject matter experts contributed assessments about thousands of species.

Adam Leaché, a professor of biology at the University of Washington who is also a curator at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, said the study represented a “big update on the conservation of amphibians across the globe.”

Leaché, who was not part of the research group, said that the analysis was thorough and comprehensive and that it was led by some of the premier researchers of amphibians in the world.

“In general, I think the patterns we see globally reflect what a lot of us think is happening locally, as well,” Leaché said, adding that he has seen habitat loss up close.

Leaché’s research group has conducted surveys in subtropical West Africa, tracking amphibian species in the field.

A Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander. Todd W. Pierson

Sometimes, when he returns in later years, “they’re gone. They’ve been completely deforested,” Leaché said. “There’s no way to survey for biodiversity; nothing’s there.”

Climate change is a growing problem for amphibians.

“We know amphibians are particularly sensitive to changes in their environment, in part because they breathe through their skin,” Neam said at a news conference. “The effects of climate change, including the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events — such as storms and floods and droughts, changes in moisture, changes in temperatures, sea level rise, fires — all of these things can result in loss of important breeding sites for amphibians.”

Amphibians have also been dealing with their own pandemic — from the Chytrid fungus, which has spread rapidly around the globe, infects amphibians’ skin, prevents them from rehydrating properly and causes heart attacks.

“Modern climate change really works synergistically with diseases and in ways that it stresses frogs and makes them more vulnerable to these pathogens,” said Patricia Burrowes, a professor in the biology department at the University of Puerto Rico.

Amphibians play critical roles in the food web, and they are often eaten by birds, fish and mammals. They are also part of the biodiversity that sustains human life. Some have been important in medical research.

Leaché hunts for news species, like some other herpetologists. He said that when he meets regular folks in the course of that work, his conversations rarely center on frogs’ important ecological roles or their medicinal uses.

Instead, people tell him stories of their early days — “the good ol’ days,” as Leaché described it — seeing salamanders at a swimming hole or hearing croaks out their windows.

“It’s reminiscing about better times when species were around, and now they’re not here anymore,” he said.