A local researcher is sounding the alarm on the province's breakneck construction boom and its affects on wetlands and he is using Edmonton's slimiest creatures to prove his point.
Brett Scheffers, a University of Alberta biological sciences master's student, is measuring the connections between urban development and the survival of northern amphibians.
To do that, he is studying the differences between man-made wetland sites and natural sites.
"I use (the frogs) as an indicator of good wetlands and really poor wetlands," he said. "If you have these the wetland is doing okay. If they're not there, that means you did something wrong."
The city of Edmonton requires any contractor to replace a wetlands area if it is removed due to development.
While the law is designed to be environment friendly, Scheffers said he's not sure the man-made wetlands are ecologically equivalent to the ones Mother Nature creates.
"We're failing in our goals if we're trying to create something equivalent to nature we're not doing that," he said.
As a result, many northern amphibians are facing extinction due to destruction of habitat. In Edmonton, three of the city's natural more productive wetlands are scheduled to be developed by the fall.
Since 2001, Edmonton has lost 25 per cent of its natural wetlands around the city due to construction.
It's a scary thought, says Scheffers, as many amphibians - including the threatened tiger salamander - use the wetlands to breed.
"If we want to co-exist and have a healthy ecosystem where we live and the environment, we want to maintain as many species as possible," he said.
With files from Joel Gotlib
