aroidiphyllic frogs (Peter Matthews)

From: Jason Hernandez mossytrail at earthlink.net> on 1970.01.01 at 00:00:00(12872) -----Original Message----- Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 09:14:14 +0900 Subject: RE: [Aroid-l] aroidiphyllic frogs To: Discussion of aroids Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Deni and others, In Japan, where taro is widely cultivated but not native, it is common in the wet season (spring/early summer) to see small green frogs perched on taro leaves. Taro has to be given lots of water through the dry end of summer, so it is natural for frogs to congregate in the vicinity, even though the habitat is entirely synthetic. Peter Reminds me of some of my own observations in my Aroideana article a couple years ago, in which flooded taro paddies (on a small island off Taiwan) were inhabited by various wetland fauna. It seems to me that this particular agroecosystem may prove especially valuable in places where natural wetlands are dwindling. A taro paddy may not be as biologically diverse as a wild marsh, but for those wetland-dependent species who can adapt to it, it is better than no wetlands at all. Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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