JAKARTA: Climate change will have major impacts on aquatic organisms, which face a higher risk of population decline and even extinction as a result of drastic temperature changes, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) chief biosystematics and evolution researcher Amir Hamidy said.

“Species living in aquatic environments are among the first to feel the effects of climate change,” he said during a media discussion at the BJ Habibie Building in Jakarta, as quoted on BRIN’s website on Thursday.

Some of these impacts, he said, were changes to the reproductive cycles and behaviors of certain animals.

Amir added that toads were excellent bio-indicators of water availability, one of which was the bleeding toad (Leptophryne cruentata), found exclusively around Mount Gede Pangrango in West Java.

According to data from 40 years of monitoring conducted by researchers from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and related institutions, the distribution of these toads has decreased and their populations have moved away from the altitudes they typically inhabit.

The researchers said the decrease in distribution and the newfound migration of the species were results of temperature changes on Mount Gede Pangrango.

The changing temperatures affected the reproductive cycle of the toads, impacting their breeding patterns.

“There are species that can survive and there are species that cannot survive. However, the concern is when these species cannot survive with extremely drastic climate changes,” Amir added.

He also cited the worldwide population decline of Panama frogs as an example of climate change’s impact on organisms.

Amir also directly observed changes in frog behavior when temperatures significantly decreased, a consequence of significant metabolic differences between warm-blooded and cold-blooded species.

“There are changes I observed in frog behavior when the temperature dropped by 4 degrees [Celsius]. So physiologically, […] we humans are warm-blooded, so our metabolism is stable,” he said.

“But for cold-blooded fauna, their metabolism drops immediately. If the temperature exceeds their tolerance, they will die. It’s the same when it’s hot.”

Amir underscored the importance of understanding climate change’s implications for conservation efforts and biodiversity protection, particularly in how to establish proper mitigation strategies for threatened ecosystems and species.