EPA cannot ensure success in the protection of our natural resources without individuals and communities working with us as partners in meeting this challenge. Some species are particularly sensitive to ecological threats and may herald changes in the environment before they become obvious. Their moist and permeable skin, plant and animal diet, and tendency to remain in the same area throughout their lives make these familiar animals especially sensitive to changes in the environment. Long term ecological studies in New Hampshire have shown salamanders to be critical links in northeastern forest food webs. In a healthy forest ecosystem, the weight of all the woodland salamanders may equal that of all other small mammals combined and be twice the weight of breeding birds.
Amphibians are also an important pharmaceutical resource.
Hundreds of compounds have been found in their skins, some of which are used as painkillers and to treat heart attack and burn patients. Troubling worldwide declines and the extinction of a number of amphibian species, even in protected natural areas, were first noted in 1990. Investigations are underway both here and abroad to determine the causes and extent of the decline in amphibians, but most experts believe that the loss and degradation of habitat, including wetlands and uplands, is the most widespread cause. New England is unfortunately no exception to worldwide trends, and declines have been reported in numerous species. Since a number of our native amphibians are rare, the prospect of further declines is worrisome.