and two species of Whistling Frog to disappear.

Dr. Donald Linzey, from the Wytheville Community College in Virginia, has visited the Island four times over the last year to gather "baseline data'' on the animals.

He told The Royal Gazette that very little work had been done on them so he has had to study them from the most basic level.

These studies include food analyses, parasite and bacteria analyses and he will eventually analyse the animals' tissue to discover whether or not there are any heavy metals such as cadmium present.

Dr. Linzey said he was particularly concerned about one species of Whistling Frog of which he has only been able to find six.

He said he feels the animals are being "stressed'' by factors such as parasites and their food content which has led them to become more sensitive to environmental problems.

These problems include acid rain, global warming, increased ultraviolet rays through the earth's ozone layer and pesticides.

Dr. Linzey said these factors could be affecting the animals in their most sensitive states of breeding and development from the tadpole stage.

Another problem he has discovered is that there seems to be a wide variation in the number of eggs the frogs are laying depending on where they are located.

He said he has about 15 study sites set up which stretch from one end of the Island to the other and the frogs at the West End of the Island are laying more eggs than anywhere else.

Predators have also damaged the few eggs which are being laid. Egg masses have been destroyed by ants and fly larvae.

Dr. Linzey said the study will take at least five years and probably longer because "we'll have to put all the pieces together''.

Dr. Linzey is being assisted by the Natural History Museum, the Bermuda Aquarium and volunteers.

ENVIRONMENT ENV MUSEUM MUS SCIENCE SCI