Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 84, December 2008, pp. 1-18. | Page 11

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Palestine or Hula painted frog. Foto: Professor Heinrich Mendelssohn.
http://www.arkive.org/media/54367C60-B349-4D12-B40198D577F716D7/Presentation.Large/photo.jpg

Amphibians in Palestine: Threats and Impacts.
Almost all amphibians in Palestine are endangered due to intensive farming, degradation
of wetland habitats in the Dead Sea basin, Gaza Strip and fresh and brackish springs,
rivers and wadi systems. Recently many swamps have been drained causing a great
reduction in the abundance of many local species, as indicated in Table (1). This
phenomenon is very obvious in Gaza Strip where the drying of the main wadis and
intensive use of remaining water resources has not given amphibians much chance to
exist. Loss of amphibian species and diversity has led to an increase in the number of
disease vector insects such as mosquitoes.
In addition to the loss of wetland habitat, a significant portion of the remaining wetlands
are exposed to untreated sewage water from human settlements and industrial activities
and vegetation cover loss. This impact is deemed severe and is threatening some
amphibian species with extinction.

Gazelle – Number 84 – December 2008