内容摘要：Georgescu upended Romania’s political landscape last November when he ran as an independent and

Georgescu upended Romania’s political landscape last November when he ran as an independent and

John Bateman, a wildlife professor, helps a spotted salamander cross a road Friday, March 28, 2025, in Honeoye, N.Y. (AP Photo/Maryel Pryce)Larger wetlands can enjoy federal protections, but not the vernal pools, which are too small and temporary.

“Unfortunately, with urban sprawl and development, a lot of the forests are being cleared for new housing developments as people move out of the cities and into the suburbs,” said Bateman, a professor of environmental conservation and horticulture at Finger Lakes Community College. “When they clear these forest habitats, vernal pools are going to be buried and become new houses, condominiums, and neighborhoods.”EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between Rochester Institute of Technology and The Associated Press.The U.S. Geological Survey calls amphibian declines “a global phenomenon” and one that’s been underway in the U.S. since at least the 1960s. The agency said populations are dropping almost 4% each year in the U.S.

Development isn’t the only threat. Amphibians are being affected by Earth’s changing climate. The Appalachian region is particularly rich in salamander species, and with temperatures rising, their range is shifting northward, Bateman said.“At one point you hit the top and there is nowhere else to go,” Bateman said.

A warming climate also requires cold-blooded amphibians to spend more time hunting to get the food they need to maintain their metabolism, said Karen Lips, a University of Maryland biology professor

Bateman isn’t the only conservationist working to help amphibians.Apple won praise from Trump in late February when the Cupertino, California, company committed

and add 20,000 jobs in the U.S. during the next four years. The pledge was an echo of a $350 billion investment commitment in the U.S. that Apple made during Trump’s first term when the iPhone was exempted from China tariffs.An electronics exemption would remove “a huge black cloud overhang for now over the tech sector and the pressure facing U.S. Big Tech,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a research note. Ives amended that note after Lutnick’s comments Sunday, saying the confusing news out of the White House “is dizzying for the industry and investors and creating massive uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain, inventory, and demand.”

Neither Apple nor Samsung responded to requests for comment over the weekend. Nvidia declined to comment.O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP White House correspondent Darlene Superville in West Palm Beach, Florida, and AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in Berkeley, California contributed to this report.