Adding an important data point on African frogs

Big data syntheses need data, and the majority of scientific data still comes from the nothern hemisphere power houses of USA and Europe with China fast catching up. However, there is still a lot of the rest of the world out there. It is important that studies are made, especially in the southern hemisphere in data poor areas. Today, a new paper on the "Vulnerability of amphibians to global warming" was published in Nature. The article used physiological data from all over the world, but one continent had hardly any data available to the authors.

The African continent is especially data poor:

 

With only 4 data points on it, Africa is a notably large continent with a hardly any data. It is satisfying then that the one data point (shown in Cape Town) comes from the study of Carla Wagener (see here). This study looked at the physiological performance of tadpoles from high and low altitude locations of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis.

Obviously, Africa needs more data points, but we are very pleased that we were able to contribute to such an important study.

Literature

Pottier, P., Kearney, M.R., Wu, N.C. et al. Vulnerability of amphibians to global warming. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08665-0 

Wagener, C., Kruger, N., Measey, J. (2021) Progeny of Xenopus laevis from altitudinal extremes display adaptive physiological performance. J Exp Biol 1 April 2021; 224 (7): jeb233031. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.233031

Temperature profiles from the Tanabe Peninsula, Japan

Regular readers of this blog will know that in July 2024 I visited the Tanabe Peninsula in Japan with Kento Takata to see the amazing project by Hiroshi Doei to rid the peninsula of invading Xenopus laevis (see here). I just reveived an update from Kento and it seems that the population has been exterminated! This is an amazing feat for Hiroshi Doei (see picture below) who spent more than 16 years of daily visits to this site. 

Kento also sent data downloaded from two Hobo loggers that I left in Japan. You can see them here in his hands:

The temperature profiles show that the Tanabe Peninsula gets very hot in summer and gets to near freezing in winter. This is close to the extremes of temperatures that we saw near Bloefontein in South Africa (see here). 

These frogs lived in a relatively extreme habitat for Xenopus, which are used to mild winters in Jonkershoek where most of them were shipped from (see here). 

Right time, Right place - in defense of his MSc thesis

Jonathan Bell used to work at NCC with his principle project being co-ordination of the Guttural Toad removal plan. During that time we had a lot of interactions and it was clear that Jonathan had great ideas of how to improve the efficiency of the eradication campaign. However, there was not a lot of time in his life for doing an MSc. Some years later though, Jonathan re-located to working for the Invasive Species Unit at the City of Cape Town, and there was a positive encouragement for him to do an MSc.

The idea for the first chapter of his project was to find out exactly why some people allowed access to their properties, and others did not. Using Jonathan's long list of contacts in areas invaded by the Guttural Toad and Polyphagous Shot-Hole Borer, he interviewed a series of different key informants to find out why they had or had not allowed access to their properties. The reasons were varied, but were aspects of socio-political, economic and environmental variables. Armed with their responses, Jonathan designed a questionnaire that he rolled out to 400 respondents in the City of Cape Town area. He found out that the type of Agents, Appointment Scheduling and Societal Influence were the most important categories chosen by people influencing whether or not they would allow access to their properties. Not only this, but he also found that these responses varied across an urban density gradient.

For his second chapter, Jonathan used a time to detection model (with the help of Dom Henry) to determine under what variables it would be most efficient to manage invasive Guttural Toads. This chapter too was a great success with several significant variables increasing the efficacy of contractors who were out to collect toads. 

Jonathan received a great mark for his defense presentation, and together with his thesis marks will graduate in March!

Congratualtions Jonathan!

10 years of Blog writing

It was 10 years ago that I wrote my first blog post (see here). The original idea was to use the blog to record things I had to report on at the end of the year as they happened. At the end of 2014, I had to report on all the things that I had done in my (then) new position at the CIB. I found it really hard to remember and so vowed that I would make a record as they happened in 2015. Around the same time, I was reading blogs from other labs and thought that a new blog would be a good vehicle to act as an aide memoire. And that's how the MeaseyLab blog was born. Now, nearly 400 blog posts and 10 years later, it is a good time to reflect on that original aim and see what else has happened along the way.

First, I should note that this was a really good way to track what happened at the lab through the year. In subsequent years, I was able to flick back through the pages of the blog and check to see what had happened and when. This made reporting a lot easier! But other opportunities also began to arise. I was able to track milestones in particular projects by having different tags for each project. Tags meant that visitors could quickly find the content that they required, but it also made it easier for me to report on those projects quickly and efficiently. 

I also started some longer blog posts aimed at supporting my students in their writing endevours. These posts on writing became rambling and diverse until mid-2019 when I realised that I had covered most aspects of writing issues that students in my lab faced, and that if I filled in the gaps, it should be able to publish them as a Fool's Guide to writing a thesis. I approached a few publishers, and eventually found one who would permit me to keep the online material free to all, while at the same time producing two printed books.

Most of all though, it turned out that the blog was mostly about people. People that worked with me as students and post-docs, and those that I collaborate with around the world. It was a way in which I was able to thank and celebrate all of the people that have made the last ten years an amazing experience. Looking back through ten years of the blog, I am most impressed at the number of happy faces of people enjoying conducting reearch. Perhaps those posts, above all others, are the ones that have become most valuable and help me to remember that everything the lab has acheived in the last ten years has really been the result of lots of different people working together.

I also need to make a special mention to my brother, Richard, who maintains john.measey.com. It is only because he was able to set me up with the stub of the blog (within a few days of asking) that it started at all. Despite hackers and take-down attempts, Richard has kept the MeaseyLab blog up and running throughout. 

Many thanks to Richard and to everyone who has featured in the blog throughout the last 10 years. Here's to the next 10 years and may it be as full of diverse smiling faces as the first ten.

What is the MeaseyLab blog?

The MeaseyLab blog focuses on research in ecology, evolution, and conservation, particularly concerning amphibians and reptiles. The blog features updates on recent publications, fieldwork experiences, and discussions on various herpetological topics. It also highlights the lab's involvement in outreach activities and collaborations with other researchers. While the blog primarily centers on African herpetofauna, it provides valuable insights into global amphibian and reptile research. The MeaseyLab blog also offers several resources to assist students in improving their writing skills including articles on structuring scientific papers, emphasizing clarity and coherence, and tips for effective communication with practical advice to help students convey their research findings succinctly and effectively. These resources aim to support students in developing their writing abilities, particularly in the context of scientific research.

Temperature of the water in a Jonkershoek pond

Temperature is pivotal to the functioning physiology of ectotherms, and for the principally aquatic frog Xenopus laevis the water temperature dictates the temperature of the animals throughout the year. We know that most of the invasive populations of X. laevis were sourced from the South African Cape region in general, and the Jonkershoek hatcheries near Stellenbosch in particular (van Sittert & Measey 2016). 

For the past year, I have had a temperature logger recording the water temperature just above the bottom in a pond in Jonkershoek. 

The same pond has been the source of Xenopus laevis for numerous studies, and likely contains animals that are closely related to those shipped from South Africa all over the world. 

The temperatures between November 2023 and 2024 show that the water reaches maximum temperatures in early February (27.32 C), and a low 6 months later in early August (7.98 C). Despite these extremes, the water temperature varied only 15 C between 10 and 25 C. This is relatively little change compared to the same loggers deployed in Kwa-Zulu Natal (see here). 

Thanks to Martine Jordaan and Andrew Turner who helped with the deployment and collection of this logger.