amphibian ark Keeping threatened amphibian species afloat

Summary Overview

The Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) published by IUCN in 2004 documented that amphibians are the vertebrate group most threatened with extinction. Many species have disappeared in recent years, and today at least one in three of remaining species is faced with extinction.

Although the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP), drafted in 2005, outlined steps to understand and halt this unparalleled conservation crisis, implementation progress has been slow and uneven. This is due primarily to a lack of coordination and of funding. To address these problems and implement the ACAP more thoroughly, the Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) is being formed. The IUCN is currently seeking organizations and institutions to join, fund, and help the ASA coordinate and facilitate implementation of the ACAP.

The Problem

The planet is currently in a mass extinction episode, the sixth on record. This mass extinction is most apparent with the amphibians. The updated GAA shows that about 30% of the 6,285 described and assessed species of amphibians are categorized as threatened on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species™. A further 25.4% are so poorly known that they can only be labelled as Data Deficient, and this does not even include an estimated 3000 to 6000 species yet to be named.

Despite the dramatic number of amphibian species under threat (1,895 ), it is the rate at which these species are disappearing that is even more alarming. The findings of the Red List indicate that the current extinction rate of amphibians is roughly 1000 times higher than at any other time in their 360-million-year history. This is the greatest extinction episode in the history of amphibians, and the greatest conservation challenge to encompass an entire class of species in the history of humanity.

Following the production of the ACAP in 2005 there has been an increase in the attention amphibians have received both within the scientific and conservation communities and among society at large. Prime factors implicated in immediate extinctions, such as the fungal disease chytridiomycosis have been identified, and researchers are now exploring approaches to provide disease resistance to susceptible species. The other major threatening factor of habitat destruction and degradation is being addressed and key habitat areas are being protected. Recent efforts have included the prevention of at least 34 amphibian extinctions in the wild through site-based conservation of more than 13,000 hectares in 10 countries.

For cases where protection of high risk species in the wild is impossible, the Amphibian Ark initiative is undertaking to provide survival security in captive populations. There are now 100 prioritized species in this program . The ASA is to become the unifying name and face of global amphibian conservation of all kinds, and the Amphibian Ark will continue its work as the ex situ component within this structure.

While these efforts are significant, progress across the agenda of ACAP issues has not been of a scale sufficient to address and halt the crisis at the extent needed. As a direct result, species continue to go extinct.

The Proposed Response

In August of 2009, an amphibian conservation ‘mini summit’ was convened in London. Participants reviewed ACAP implementation and prioritized activities considered to be most needed to ensure timely progress in conservation responses. Most importantly, the group agreed that the ASA should be formed as a consortium of organizations and institutions committed to thoroughly implementing the ACAP. The Alliance is to be the major force for the conservation of amphibians globally and will serve to bring focus, coordination, and leadership to address the world’s most serious extinction crisis.

An ASA Executive Director will work with Alliance members and its Board of Directors to develop and monitor ASA strategies, to coordinate response activities on several issues, to promote the conservation case, and to secure necessary financial and other resources.

IUCN is to provide the institutional home for the ASA in its U.S. office in Washington, D.C., and the Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission has agreed to serve pro-tem as the Chair of the ASA Board of Directors. The Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, a network of more than 600 of the world’s leading amphibian biologists, will provide scientific advice to the ASA. The ASG will also facilitate the assessment of the conservation status of amphibian species for the IUCN Red List, and assist in the development of national and regional amphibian conservation action plans to support and guide the ASA’s work.

How YOU Can Help

Leadership and legacy in species conservation positions your institution as a vital potential member of the ASA. Organizations and institutions join the Alliance by co-signing a letter of agreement with the Chair of the ASA Board of Directors, thereby committing to assist in implementing the ACAP.

ASA Budget for First Year

Funding is urgently needed to bring the organizational structure into being, particularly the appointment of a full-time Executive Director to take responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the ASA. A dynamic individual is essential to provide this leadership and this person must have a sufficient budget.

Below is a short budget for the first year, covering this position and initial activities. To date $113,000US have been committed, leaving about $118,000US to be contributed.

 

Contributions may be made through IUCN US which is a 501(c)3 charity

1. Colostethus ruthveni – Endangered
2. Mantella milotympanum - Critically Endangered
3. Atelopus pulcher - Critically Endangered
4. Lyciasalamandra billae - Critically Endangered
5. Geobatrachus walkeri – Endangered
6. Bolitoglossa franklini – Endangered
7. Duellmanohyla soralia – Critically Endangered
8. Phyllobates terribilis – Endangered
9. Rana muscosa – Endangered
10. Eleutherodactylus cacao - Endangered
11. Platypelis mavomavo - Endangered
12. Pseudoeurycea bellii - Vulnerable