Confronting Amphibian
Declines and Extinctions
What is an amphibian?
• Frogs & toads
• Newts & salamanders
• Caecilians
Why are amphibians important?
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source of human medicine
indicators of environmental health
control insects and insect-borne diseases
vital role in ecosystems
role in culture/religion
• aesthetics
Are they really in trouble?
• 5,743 species of amphibians
– 43% in decline (2,469 spp.)
– 32% threatened (1,856 spp.)
– 120 presumably extinct (since
1980)
– 23% data deficient (1,294 spp.)
• Worse than birds (12%) or
mammals (23%)
Why?
• tropical forests cover 7% of
the land which is home to 5090% of world’s species
• 44% gone by our hands
• going at 4-5 football fields /
second
• Estimated gone by 2020
• 85% of US primary forests
gone, 99% of tallgrass prairies
numbers vs. rate
Amphibian chytrid
• Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
• associated with amphibian
deaths on every continent
• unstoppable & untreatable
in the wild
• “the worst infectious disease
ever recorded among vertebrates in terms of the number of
species impacted, and its propensity to drive them to
extinction.”
African clawed
frog
Xenopus laevis
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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
~28 km/yr
1987-88
2002-03
1993-94
Showing spread
of chytrid
fungus and
extinctions in
Panama
1996-97
2004
2006
Mortality - stream transects
Showing amphibian deaths
in stream surveys in
Panama on the arrival of
chytrid fungus
data from Lips et al.
Next for chytrid
• Continued expansion into eastern Panama, southern
Andes (Peru)
• Invasion into tropical/ temperate Africa & Asia
• Identical extent of losses?
– High endemism, all frogs susceptible, perpetual
conditions for chytrid
Global Amphibian Extinctions
Action
• 2002 IUCN Technical Guidelines on the Management of Ex-situ
populations for Conservation:
– “All Critically Endangered and Extinct in the Wild taxa should
be subject to ex situ management to ensure recovery of wild
populations.”
• 2005 IUCN ACAP White Papers:
– “Survival assurance colonies are
mandatory for amphibian species that
will not persist in the wild long enough
to recover naturally once environments
are restored; these species need to be
saved now through ex-situ measures
so that more complete restoration of
ecosystems is possible in the future”
• 2005 IUCN ACS Declaration:
– “The ACAP recommends prioritized ... captive survival assurance
programs ... to buy time for species that would otherwise become
extinct...”
• 2006 IUCN ACAP:
– “The only hope for populations and species at immediate risk of
extinction is immediate rescue for the establishment and management of
captive survival-assurance colonies”
Are we ready to respond?
• Currently very limited capacity to hold and breed
amphibians in the world’s zoos
• Most collections are cosmopolitan mixes with inadequate
attention to hygiene and biosecurity
• Limited numbers of staff with amphibian skills
Building (up) facilities at home
• Antwerp, Atlantans, Auckland, Bristol, Cologne, Detroit,
Houston, London, Melbourne, Omaha, Perth, San Antonio,
Toledo
• who’s next?
Building (up) facilities offsite
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Houston Zoo - El Nispero Zoo (Panama)
Zoo Zurich - Cali Zoo (Colombia)
St. Louis Zoo - Catolica University (Ecuador)
Omaha Zoo - Johannesburg Zoo
London/Chester/Jersey Zoos - Dominica
Chester - standardized mobile biosecure facilities
• who’s next?
WAZA and CBSG are together taking responsibility for helping
to coordinate the global amphibian ex situ conservation
response – zoos and aquariums can become involved!
Visit www.cbsg.org and www.waza.org.