Climate change impacting the call of the coquí frog

UCLA researchers have been studying the croaks of Puerto Rico’s iconic male coquí frogs. They use their distinctive call to mark territory and warn off rivals, and now scientists are saying that the croak is changing. Research found that the frogs of El Yunque, whose tone shifts with different temperatures, are now croaking in the same high pitch. They are migrating from the bottom of the mountains to the top to escape higher temperatures at ground level. Scientists are concerned that, as temperatures increase and the frogs keep migrating, local ecosystem collapse becomes inevitable with a shifting, and shrinking, coquí population.

Dengue virus infections increase in Puerto Rico, U.S. territories 

In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the dengue virus, which causes death in 1-in-4 infected people, needs to be better controlled in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. Between 2010 and 2020, the CDC found nearly 31,000 dengue cases in U.S. territories, with 96 percent of these occurring in Puerto Rico. Half of the people infected were under 20 years old. A vaccine is available, and researchers write that widespread vaccination on the Island could prevent 3,000 hospitalizations over the next decade.

Top Puerto Rican officials meet with Wall St. investors 

As Puerto Rico nears one year since exiting bankruptcy, top government officials worked to persuade international investors to return to the Island at a conference called “PRNOW” held in Manhattan last week. The conference was designed to reacquaint Wall Street’s institutional investors with the opportunities in Puerto Rico, now moving toward a more positive economic outlook thanks not just to the bankruptcy process but also to billions in federal reconstruction money. Puerto Rico’s GDP hit a two-decade high with a 3.7 percent jump last year, and officials are optimistic such growth will continue for the foreseeable future, especially with international financial support.