India: An Amphibian Hotspot

S. D. Biju (Sathyabhama Das Biju). Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, India; Radcliffe Hrdy Fellow, Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Associate, Museum of Comparative Zoology; and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University.

Scientists estimate that only 30 percent of Earth’s biodiversity–including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi–is known. Due to human activities, habitats across the world are changing or being destroyed. As a result, an increasing number of organisms are threatened or on the brink of extinction–even before they have been documented or described. Amphibians—a group that includes frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts—are particularly vulnerable to habitat changes, pollution, and drought, and species in this group are becoming extinct at alarming rates. In this talk, S. D. Biju will discuss his thirty years of research on the frogs of India and Asia and highlight the key role that scientists play in the conservation of species.

After the lecture, visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History to see an exhibit of S. D. Biju’s frog photographs, and join ArtsThursdays—a free event featuring art-making activities and a cash bar.

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