Dutch amphibians, webcam and leucism

This video says about itself:

Researchers have discovered 10 amphibians believed to be new to science in Colombia’s Darien region. Jorge Ribas lists the findings.

22 August 2010.

In a pond on the Keizer Karel square, in the busy centre of the Dutch city of Nijmegen, smooth newts live and propagate, according to the Dutch herpetologists of RAVON. One of the newts is white because of leucism.

RAVON has a webcam at a pond in the central Netherlands, where various amphibian species live. They include Alpine newts, smooth newts, edible frogs, common frogs, and European toads.

Smooth newts: here.

The Siberian salamander (Ranodon sibiricus), distributed in geographically isolated areas of Central Asia, is an ideal alpine species for studies of conservation and phylogeography. However, there are few data regarding the genetic diversity in R. sibiricus populations: here.

Frogs in the pond have become canaries in the coal mine. As amphibian populations have declined worldwide, concerns have risen about the potential environmental effects of agricultural pesticides and other chemicals. And recent work is challenging existing ideas of what environs and organisms are at risk: here.