2011 Seed Grant Winners
Amphibian Ark is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Seed Grant program. These $5,000 competitive grants are designed to fund small start-up projects that are in need of seed money in order to build successful long-term programs that attract larger funding. We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Ronna Erickson, Josie Lowman, Woodland Park Zoo and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums in establishing these grants. Applications for seed grants in 2012 will be called for early in 2012.
The successful projects are:
- Captive breeding of the Canasí Frog from Cuba – Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Cuba ($5,000)
- Ex situ management of five extant species of Atelopus in Ecuador – Centro Jambatu de Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios/Fundación Otonga, Ecuador ($5,000)
- Conservation of Scinax alcatraz – Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo, Brazil ($5,000)
View Amphibian Ark Seed Grant recipients in a larger map
Captive breeding of the Canasí Frog from Cuba – Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Cuba
The recent Amphibian Conservation Needs Assessments for Cuba (27–30 April 2011) by AArk in Dominican Republic concludes that Eleutherodactylus blairhedgesi is the Cuban species with the highest priority for ex situ conservation actions. The species is listed as critically endangered (CR) by the IUCN (Hedges and Díaz, 2004, 2010), and threats are not expected to be reversed in time to avoid extinction.
This frog is a local endemic to the north coast of Havana and is currently affected by increasing impacts of crude oil mining and the development of tourism. This AArk Seed Grant application is requested for the following purposes: 1) to develop a facility for ex situ conservation of E. blairhedgesi; and 2) to monitor wild populations of this species to gather basic information on its biology and threats. This project is expected to develop the first action plan to protect the species through a combination of ex situ and in situ strategies.
This project will facilitate the publication of several aspects of the species’ natural history and new protocols for ex situ conservation.
The complete project proposal can be viewed here.
Ex situ management of five extant species of Atelopus in Ecuador – Centro Jambatu de Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios/Fundación Otonga, Ecuador
This project aims to save from extinction five extant species of harlequin frogs Atelopus in Ecuador, through ex situ breeding and management. Most harlequin frogs went extinct and most of the extant are Critically Endangered (based on IUCN criteria) through all its distribution. Given the threats this genus faces, in situ management is not enough to save the species, and at this point, ex situ management is an urgently needed proactive solution to save extant species from extinction.
Previous efforts to captive breed Atelopus have been relatively minor and unsuccessful, except for A. zeteki. Some of these efforts have failed because they relied on the spontaneous breeding of amplectant pairs kept under lab conditions. Previous experience shows that breeding under such circumstances rarely occurs. Thus, our objectives and activities are directed to find additional founders, adequately equip the ex situ facilities for the program Arca de los Sapos of Jambatu Center, and perform essays of assisted reproduction (using hormones) of A. sp., A. elegans, A. spumarius, A. balios, and A. nanay, on the basis of successful previous essays with two of the species. With this project we will expect to produce first descendants of future genetically viable populations of these five species. We will keep them under lab conditions until the causes of their declines and disappearances are better understood and mitigated in nature, so their reintroduction would be feasible.
The complete project proposal can be viewed here.
Conservation of Scinax alcatraz (Anura: Hylidae): Captive breeding and in situ monitoring of a critically endangered tree-frog species – Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo, Brazil
Scinax alcatraz is a tree frog, endemic of Alcatrazes Island and is listed as “Critically Endangered” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Part of the island belongs to the Brazilian Navy, and it is used as a target practice by navy ships. This practice often cause spot fires on the island and consequently destroy the bromeliads, the habitat of the S. alcatraz. For this reason the establishment of an ex situ breeding program, as well as maintaining a viable population in captivity, is really necessary and urgent.
The founders will be collected during the rainy season and will be placed in a captive biosecure breeding facility (modified shipping container), inside of Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo
facilities. The funds requested from AArk will be used for husbandry and care materials. Parallel to the captive program, constant monitoring of the species will be conducted to enable the investigation of possible population declines, and if necessary, the genetic and sanitary viable population of Scinax alcatraz maintained in captivity will be ready for some possible supplementation or reintroduction.
The results of this project will be processed in a guideline, which can be used to make the amphibian conservation a priority in public policies in Brazil.
The complete project proposal can be viewed here.
Amphibian Ark Seed Grant program
Although the call for applications for 2012 grants has not yet been announced, information about the application process is available here.
