Tree frog's lullabies unlikely to soothe Windward residents
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
A singing tree frog that could make O'ahu nights painfully noisy has been found among plants imported to a Windward O'ahu nursery from a Big Island nursery.
www.hear.org
Biologists have been going out at night to collect the loud-calling coqui and the quieter greenhouse frog, both imports from the Caribbean. They hope to be able to eradicate the infestation before it spreads.
Coqui have arrived on Oëahu. While cute, their night songs are hardly music to the ears of humans.
The coqui is only an inch or so long, but males vocalize at 90 decibels Ü equivalent to a noisy factory or the noise level the operator of a gas-powered leaf blower hears. The coqui lives in plants and is active at night.
Its cousin, the greenhouse frog, is about half the size and is found on the ground near standing water.
The tiny coqui can keep a whole neighborhood awake at night, biologists say. The noise could take a toll on property values.
"In large numbers, they can make a deafening industrial-strength sound at night," said Fred Kraus, a biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The frogs are established in parts of Maui and the Big Island. They arrived in the Islands in plants imported from the Caribbean, where they are native.
Hawai'i has no native frogs, and biologists fear that in addition to the noise, the animals may prey on native insects and spiders, spread plant diseases and increase the population of rats and mongooses by serving as a food source.
Bishop Museum's vice president for research, Allen Allison, said money is needed for control of alien species. He worries that bills providing support have died in the Legislature.
For more information about the frogs, and to hear them, visit the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk Project Web site, www.hear.org.
