With
more than forty native and introduced species of frogs and toads
occurring in the southeastern United States, the region represents the
heart of frog and toad diversity in the country. Renowned
herpetologists Mike Dorcas and Whit Gibbons provide us with the most
comprehensive and authoritative, yet accessible and fun-to-read, guide
to these sometimes wet, sometimes warty wonders of nature.
Dorcas and Gibbons enumerate the distinguishing characteristics of
frogs and toads, including how they are different from other amphibians
and the differences between a frog and a toad. Also discussed are the
morphology of frogs and toads, the main groups to be found in the
Southeast, and their habitats. Individual species accounts contain a
physical description of the species plus information about distribution
and habitat, behavior and activity, food and feeding, predators and
defense, calls and vocalizations, reproduction and description of eggs
and tadpoles, and conservation. Accompanying each account are
photographs illustrating typical adults and variations and distribution
maps for the Southeast and the United States.
Given the recent worldwide decline in amphibian populations and
increasing scientific and popular concern for what these declines mean
for all other organisms, Frogs and
Toads of the Southeast will appeal to people of all ages
and levels of knowledge interested in natural history and conservation.
The guide will help foster the growing interest in frogs and toads as
well as cultivate a desire to protect and conserve these fascinating
amphibians and their habitats.
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Frogs and Toads of
the Southeast
by Mike Dorcas and Whit Gibbons
Beacon Press,
2008
Order
a copy
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