The scope and scale of the amphibian crises Joe Mendelson, ASG Executive Officer

1
The scope and scale of the amphibian crises
Joe Mendelson, ASG Executive Officer
2
The scope and scale of the amphibian crisesJoe
Mendelson, ASG Executive Officer Bob Lacy, CBSG
Chair(Kevin Zippel, CBSG/WAZA APO)
3
Why are amphibians important?

• source of human medicine
• indicators of environmental health
• control insects and insect-borne diseases
• vital role in ecosystems
• role in culture/religion
• aesthetics
• amphibians are declining

4
Global Amphibian Assessment

• 5,743 species of amphibians
• 43 in decline
• 32 threatened
• 168 presumably extinct (122 since 1980)
• 23 data deficient
• - many probably endangered
• Worse than birds (12) or mammals (23)

5
Beginnings of a mass extinction

• Nearly one-third (32) of the worlds amphibian
  species - representing 1,856 species - are
  threatened with extinction.
• Up to 122 species may have gone extinct since
  1980.
• At least 43 of all species are declining in
  population size.

6

Complex Causes

• Habitat Loss and Degradation
• Climate Change
• Chemical Contamination
• Infectious Disease
• Invasive Species
• Over-Harvesting

7
Non-random extinctions

• High-risk regions (declining species)
• Neotropics (279)
• Aus NZ (174)
• High-risk habitats
• Forests (365)
• Lotic habitats (277)
• Tropical montane (251)
• Causes
• Enigmatic (207)
• Habitat loss (183)
• Over exploitation (50)

8
Enigmatic declines caused by chytridiomycosis

• Globally distributed pathogen
• Genetically identical
• Emerging infectious disease
• First record 1938 South Africa
• No interactions necessary
• Kochs postulates fulfilled
• Unstoppable untreatable in wild

9
African clawed frogXenopus laevis

• native to South Africa
• earliest record of chytridiomycosis (1938)
• used in human pregnancy tests (1930s-1970s)
• amphibian lab rat (immunology, embryology)
• distributed around the world by
  1000s-10,000s/year

10
Case study Colostethus spp.
11
347 dead individuals of 40 species

• Bufonidae - Atelopus zeteki (26), Bufo
  coniferus, B. haematiticus (12)
• Dendrobatidae - Colostethus inguinalis (24), C.
  nubicola (48), C. flotator (5), C. talamancae
  (6), Dendrobates vicente, D. auratus, Phyllobates
  lugubris
• Centrolendiae - Centrolene prosoblepon (4), C.
  ilex (16), Cochranella albomaculata (9), C.
  euknemos (2), Hyalinobatrachium colymbiphyllum
  (6)
• Leptodactylidae - Eleuth. bufoniformis (7), E.
  bransfordii (2), E. caryophyllaceus, E.
  crassidigitus (10), E. cruentus (14), E. museosus
  (5), E. podi-noblei (28), E. punctariolus (4),
  E. azueroensis, E. tabasarae (3), E. talamancae
  (21), E. fitzingeri, Leptodactylus pentadactylus
  (2), Physalaemus pustulosus
• Hylidae - Hyla colymba (41), H. palmeri (22),
  H. miliaria (2), Gastrotheca cornuta,
  Phyllomedusa lemur (2)
• Ranidae - Rana warszewitschii (6)
• Microhylidae - Nelsonophryne aterrima (7)
• Plethodontidae Bolitoglossa schizodactyla (2),
  Oedipina collaris (2), O. parvipes complex
• (in mark-recapture program arboreal fossorial)

12
28 km/yr
1987-88
1993-94
2004
2002-03
1996-97
13
Why is impact so severe in Latin America?

• lt4 months to 90 loss
• High endemism of montane amphibians
• Cloud forests are perfect environment for Bd
  (cool, moist conditions allows year-round growth)

14
What can we expect next?

• Continued expansion into eastern Panama,
  Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
• Invasion into tropical montane Africa Asia
• Madagascar, Indonesia, India, and others at risk
• Amphibian Extinctions Globally

15
Declines are now predictable

• Species that occupy high-elevation habitats
• Species that breed in streams
• Species that occupy small ranges

16
Chytrid update

• Not all species are susceptible
• Salamanders apparently are at risk
• Link between climate Bd outbreaks
• Bd occurs in wild shrimp
• Skin peptides protect against pathogens (HIV but
  not chytrid)
• Inhibition of Bd by members of 8 genera of
  bacteria isolated from the skin of 2 amphibian
  species that exhibit parental care behavior
• Ecosystem-level effects of amphibian declines

17
Long-term Prognosis

• Bd does not cause immune response
• Bd can survive in habitat or on other organisms
• new lab tests show anurans from affected
  populations die more slowly than naïve
• reports of a small minority of populations
  recovering
• environmental conditions may increase or decrease
  susceptibility
• uncertain future

18
(No Transcript)
19
Because, in many cases, chytrid is decimating
populations from otherwise pristine habitat,
conventional in situ conservation techniques
arent going to work
20
The only immediate hope of survival for many
hundreds of amphibian species will be in ex situ
assurance populations.
21
(No Transcript)
22
Amphibian Conservation Summit

• 17-19 September 2005, Washington, DC
• A lot of people (academic researchers,
  conservation NGOs, ZAs, IUCN, press)
• Brasil, Ecuador, Mexico, USA, UK, France, Italy,
  Sri Lanka, Australia, PNG
• Create an Amphibian Conservation Action Plan
  (ACAP)

23
Amphibian Conservation SummitDeclaration

• Crisis currently occurring decimation of a
  vertebrate class
• Major and scary ecological consequences
• Implications about the state of the environment
• Fungal disease as a new threat, on top of ongoing
  threats of habitat loss, global climate change,
  toxins
• Causes of decline not well understood, nor easily
  reversible, nor immediately preventable

24
Amphibian Conservation SummitDeclaration

• Traditional conservation approaches are
  inadequate to meet the challenge
• A large, multifaceted, coordinated, global
  response is needed
• by governments, NGOs, IUCN, ZAs, business,
  scientific communities

25
Amphibian Conservation SummitDeclaration

• Interventions needed
• Expanded understanding of causes of declines and
  extinctions
• Ongoing documentation of amphibian diversity and
  distribution and changes
• Development and implementation of long-range
  conservation programs
• Emergency responses to immediate crises

26
Emergency Responses

• Rapid response capacity regionally based teams
  field surveys, disease, rescue, treatment and
  maintenance
• Captive survival assurance programs
• Saving sites about to be lost
• Saving harvested species about to disappear

27
Captive survival assurance programs

• primarily in-country
• coupled to obligation to deliver in situ threat
  mitigation
• stop-gap measure to buy time for species we would
  otherwise lose
• Prioritization based on predictive models of
  imminent threats
• Decision process includes range country, ASG,
  field researchers

28
Captive survival assurance programs

• 100s to 1000 or more species face threats that
  cannot be addressed quickly with existing
  approaches
• Secure in captivity and then breed
• Coordinate with and support research,
  reintroduction initiatives, capacity-building,
  education

29
ex situ vs. in situ

• In situ refers to activities within the natural
  habitat and native range of a species
• Ex situ refers to anything outside of the natural
  habitat (including range-country zoos) and
  everything outside of the range

30
ex situ AND in situ

• Traditional conservation measures are not enough
• but they are still needed
• We need an integrated conservation strategy
• We need collaboration and mutual support
• This is our big chance and responsibility