Coqui-+Sam+W

The Coqui Frog The Coqui frog is non poisonous and about the size of a quarter. They have webbed feet, and their length ranges betwee n 15mm to 80mm. They can be gray, brown, or a light yellowish color. Their scientific name is Eleutherodactylus. It came from Puerto Rico, Hawaii and also Florida. 1 These frogs do not need to reproduce in water because they do not have a tadpole stage. The eggs are laid on moss or leaf little. The males are in charge of keeping them moist until they hatch. The eggs start off white but as they get older, they darken and start to look like papaya seeds. Th e y also h a ve “froglets” which means they skip the tadpole stage and are born right into frogs. They hatch in 14-17 days and are ½ inch long! The female can usually lay 34-75 eggs about 6 times a year. 2 1-2 days old 6-7 days old 8-9 days old 10-11 days old 14-15 days old froglet- one hour old

Most of these frogs eat insects, but if they live in an area with less insects than normal, they might eat other Coquis. Sometimes they might even eat other lizards or other small invertebrates. 1 In Hawaii, there are no native amphibians, so the Coqui could have a bad effect on native species in this area. They can achieve high populations which make it worse because the competition for food becomes harder. Hawaii has about 41% of endangered bird species in the United States. Many are nervous that the Coquis will make these birds even more endangered by being a larger competitor for prey items. Since Hawaii does not have any native amphibians, there is no competition for these frogs. Thus allowing them to take over an entire ecological niche. The Coquis feeding rate is extremely high which lowers the amount of insects there are to eat for the native birds. Also, this limits the amount of native plants because the amount of pollinators is decreasing as well. There are no natural predators of these frogs, so the population cannot be controlled very well. 3 The Coqui is native to Puerto Rico; they live in the moist tropical forests there. They are very exotic to Hawaii but also in the Virgin Islands, Florida, and Louisiana. 3 The habitat that the Coqui lives in its natural country is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit or sometimes even warmer. The humidity is very high and it rains a lot as well. They like to live in a place with a lot of trees, doesn’t matter what kind, just as long as they have some to hop onto at night so they can call their high chirps. There is also a lot of leaf little and underbrush. This allows them to hide during the day. Since these frogs do not need water to reproduce they can found in areas with just enough moisture. In Puerto Rico they can be found at a sea level at 1200m and in Hawaii1170m. 4 The coqui was first originated in Puerto Rico but made its way over to Hawaii over many years. This happened completely by accident. They were accidentally shipped over to Hawaii probably hiding in plant from Puerto Rico. In the year 1992, was the first sighting of the Coqui frog on the Hawaiian Islands. Some believe they came around 1990, but were not sighted until 2 years after. About 8 sightings of these frogs were reported in 1998, but by 2001, more than 85 people saw them. Maui, Hawaii has the most sightings of the Coquis. 5 The Coquis have a positive impact on the ecosystem. They increase foliage rates measured as the number of new leaves and new leaf area produced by 80%. They decrease prey items but they increase nutrient cycling rates. They lowered herbivory rates, and increased leaf litter decomposition rates. By the Coquis r educing the in vertebrates and increasing nutrient cycling rates, this makes an advantage to invasive plants in the ecosystem. They also control insect populations, they will never get to a large amount to over populate because they are consumed by the Coquis. There are also negative effects on the ecosystem. The people that live in areas where the Coquis do, usually do not like these frogs. By trying to kill them, they use sprays and toxins to kill them. These hurt the ecosystem and cause pollution. 6 The Coquis chirp is not much louder than some birds or crickets. They chirp because they use it as a mating call, and they do this up until dawn everyday. Some people enjoy the sound of the coqui but others cannot stand it. The sounds keep people up at night and it drives some crazy. Many people don’t want them on their property. People hate the Coquis so much they have exterminators that poison the land and water with concentrated caffeine to get rid of them. It is 100 times more concentrated than the coffee we drink at home; it can actually burn skin. They use 200 pounds of this caffeine and use it about 6 times a year. This is a lot of money for the people to pay for. The caffeine gives the frogs heart attacks. People are allowed to be on the sprayed site after 24 hours. The exposure to the caffeine is not good. Since people already have a lot of caffeine in their diets anyway, this makes it even worse. It is most serious in woman who are pregnant, children, and people with asthma and high blood pressure. The caffeine is also known to having mutations in plants, animals, and even birth defects in humans. 1

code "About the Coqui!" //Hawaiin Coqui//. Coqui Hawaiin Integration and Reeducation Project, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2009. . code

code [2] "The Life Cylce of a Coqui Frog." //Control of Coqui Frog in// // Hawaii //. College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2009. . code

code [3] Zimmerman, Julie. "Potential impacts on Hawaiian natives." //Puerto Rican coqui, Eleuthrodactylus coqui//. N.p., 17 Dec. 2001. Web. 13 Dec. 2009.. code

code [4] "Citric Acid." //Coqui Control in// // Hawaii //. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2009.

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code [5] " 13 The Puerto Rican Coqui in Hawaii ." //Travel//. AC Associated Content, 6 Nov. 2006. Web. 13 Dec. 2009. . code

code [6] "Eleutherodactylus coqui (amphibian)." //Global Invasive Species Database//. N.p., 30 Dec. 2005. Web. 13 Dec. 2009. . code