Outside species threaten Arizona's native wildlife

At night on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge southwest of Tucson, a low, insistent bellow drowns out the chaotic insect symphony under way along the edge of small ponds. At times, it's a solo, at others a raspy chorus. Bullfrogs own this pond. All other aquatic creatures take notice and don't make any long-term plans. But this is not the natural soundtrack for a pond in the southern Arizona desert. Bullfrogs are not native to these waters, and they do not play well with the local fauna. At 8 inches long, or longer, they eat smaller native frogs, fish and snakes, among other things, and have wiped out communities of Chiricahua leopard frogs and northern Mexican garter snakes. Arizona is losing its native wildlife in part because non-native species are thriving on landscapes that have been altered by development, water loss and climate change. Non-native species threaten Arizona's native wildlife in more insidious ways than people do. A road or a structure can be removed and the landscape restored, but most of the invading plants and animals dig in and hang on, damaging habitat and edging out the native species...more