Amphibia cries, Sapiens calla

Millions of moons ago, when time on our planet moved with the slowness of rocks, a large part of the continental masses, moved by plate tectonics, were located on the equator line. The Earth at that time was a world similar to the Dagobah that G. Lucas invented for his mythical Star Wars saga, a planet full of swamps, lakes, amphibian species and thick forests where, millenium after millennium, superior life was making its way.

During the Devonian period, the increase in temperature caused those bodies of shallow water to dry up. The rich and diverse ichthyofauna that swelled in these aqueous environments had only two options, to evolve or to die. And life always comes first. The decrease in dissolved oxygen favored the development of the lungs, the need to “splash” to jump from one pool to another prompted the appearance of limbs and to support the body's weight out of the water, bone tissue was necessary. All these morphological and physiological changes combined with millions of years ago resulted in amphibians.

Therefore, 400 million years ago, amphibians were the first evolutionary link that would unite fish with other tetrapods, the first vertebrate form to colonize the mainland and the common ancestor of all the reptiles, birds and mammals that were yet to arrive.

Today, there are more than 6,300 species of amphibians on our planet and 66% of them are on special protection lists, considered vulnerable or endangered, being the most threatened vertebrate group in terrestrial fauna. Emerging diseases, climate change, habitat loss and transformation, and invasive species loom over them in every corner of the world, both in urban areas and in apparently inaccessible jungles and mountains. In recent years, the number of extinct species has been overwhelming and probably many of them had not even been discovered for science.

In the Iberian Peninsula, of the 32 amphibian species described by science up to 2021, 20 of them, 62%, are included in regional lists for special protection or monitoring, 6 are declared vulnerable and 2 taxons are classified as endangered: the ferreret or Balearic sapillo and the Montseny newt. (Source: Current Status of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime and Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species).

Millions of years ago the class Amphibia It was the only member of the vertebrates that populated the emerged Earth, nothing that came later could be without first having been an amphibian. Today, major environmental crises caused by human activities, global warming, habitat loss, direct persecution for magical or superstitious reasons, the destruction of rainforests, desertification, the effects of invasive species and illegal trafficking for terrarium collections, have pushed this vertebrate group into a situation of unthinkable threat in other vertebrate groups.

Millions of years ago, the laws of nature intended that AmphibiIt was the most advantaged group of the tetrapods in Pangea.

Today, the most evolved hominids on Earth, the lineage of Sapiens, the most modern vertebrates that come from that genome, look the other way in the face of that cry, pushing them without reference to the most painful disappearance.

To learn more:

• Red Book of Amphibians and Reptiles in Spain. MITECO (2002)
• Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in Spain. New Guides Edition. Masó & PiJoan (2011)
• Amphibian and reptile identification manual. T. Halliday, M. O'Shea. OMEGA Publishing House (2001)
• Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in Spain and Europe. Geoplaneta Publishing House (1999)

Chema Fernández, Biodiversity