Amphibian extinction crisis requires unprecedented conservation response say leading scientists
Amphibian extinction crisis requires unprecedented conservation response say leading scientists
mongabay.com
July 6, 2006
The world’s leading amphibian experts are calling for dramatic steps, including the formation of an Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA), to prevent the massive extinction of amphibians worldwide.
The proposal is set forth in the current issue of the journal Science.
“Stopping further global losses of amphibian populations and species requires an unprecedented conservation response,” write the 50 scientists who co-wrote the Science paper.
The proposed alliance has an initial five-year budget goal of $400 million and calls for the implementation of the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan which was created at the Amphibian Conservation Summit in 2005.
“Amphibians are facing a dire global extinction crisis that crystallizes the impact that humans are having on the entire natural world,” said Claude Gascon, co-author of the paper, senior vice president with Conservation International (CI), and co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group. “The strategy in this paper lays a clear path towards addressing this catastrophe. If we are not successful in this battle, we will end up losing more than just amphibians.”
Scientists say amphibians — cold-blooded animals that include frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians — are under grave threat due to climate change, pollution, and the emergence of a deadly and infectious fungal disease, which has been linked to global warming. According to the Global Amphibian Assessment, a comprehensive status assessment of the world’s amphibian species, one-third of the world’s 5,918 known amphibian species are classified as threatened with extinction. Further, at least 9, and perhaps 122, have gone extinct since 1980.
Monkey frog in Peru. Photo by Rhett A. Butler |
A recent study of the 113 species of harlequin toads (genus Atelopus) found that “30 are possibly extinct, and only 10 have stable populations” according to the Science paper.
The scientists say that the fungal disease, called chytridiomycosis, “is the worst infectious disease ever recorded among vertebrates in terms of number of species impacted and threat of extinction.” According to the paper, within 4 to 6 months of the arrival of the disease at a site where the it has not previously been present, 50% of amphibian species and 80% of individuals may disappear.
“The catastrophic decline and extinction of amphibians is on a scale quite unlike anything we have ever witnessed before,” said Simon Stuart, co-author of the paper and senior director of the IUCN/CI Biodiversity Assessment Unit. “More amphibian species are declining more rapidly, over a wider geographic scale than is the case for any other group of species. With amphibians, the extinction crisis is no longer theoretical. It’s in our face.”
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This article used quotes and information from a Conservation International news release and previous mongabay.com news articles.
