# General Topics > General Discussion & News > Press / News Items >  UK Press: Climate link to amphibian decline

## John Clare

*BBC News, London, UK, Oct. 27th, 2008: Climate link to amphibian decline*

Amphibian populations at Yellowstone - the world's oldest national park - are in steep decline, a major study shows.

The authors link this to the drying out of wetlands where the animals live and breed, which is in turn being driven by long-term climate change.

The results, reported in the journal PNAS, suggest that climate warming has already disrupted one of the best-protected ecosystems on Earth. 

_Continued:_
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7693381.stm

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## Alex Shepack

I wish I found this shocking, but i've already seen evidence of this elsewhere.  In the particular area in Costa Rica where i've studied we've been noticing a change similar to this.  Since we study on a dormant volcano we are able to look at species at multiple elevations and ecosystems.  What we have begun to notice is that the lower elevation species, those that live in drier, warmer climates, have begun to move up in elevation.  This is occurring across the entire range of altitudes. Species ecological niches are moving so they move with them.  It could be possible that at some point in time an entire ecological niche, and the species that reside there, could go right off the top of the mountain (metaphorically speaking).

Alex

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