What about the amphibians?

Figure 1: Frog sitting on a stick (available from: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2011/05/happy-endangered-species-day.html)

When thinking of conservation people quite often think about the mega fauna (polar bears or elephants) but what about the amphibians.  Amphibian population (frogs, toads and newts) have been progressively decreasing, with over 40% of the known species being classified as in danger of extinction (Lӧtters, 2008).  One of the main areas that is greatly affected by this decline in population of amphibians is Madagascar, with one quarter of their endemic amphibian species being threatened of extinction. 

There are two main factors that are causing this decline in population size.  The first major factor is the loss of habitat.  The other major factor that may be leading to this decline in population is the chytrid fungus, which in turn leads to chytridiomycosis (Dawson et al., 2015).  Chytridiomycosis is an emerging disease within amphibians.  This disease has affected approximately 30% of the amphibian species throughout the world, generally being fatal for any species that contracts it.  Although researchers have figured out that this fungus is causing this disease, it is hard to come up with a plan on how to stop the amphibians within the wild from contracting this disease (Chytridiomycosis, 2015).        

 

Figure 2: Spotted newt larva over top of rocks (available from: http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/kaisers-spotted-newt-larva-with-external-high-res-stock-photography/475186419)

 

So how exactly are we going to help these amphibian species?  The answer to this question may be fairly simple, zoos.  For years zoos only brought in amphibians if they looked pretty or if they were poisonous (Lӧtters, 2008).  However, since the populations have continued to decline certain zoos have taken on the load of trying to save some of these amphibians.  In fact as of 2014 6.2% of the endangered amphibian species can now be found within zoos (Dawson et al., 2015). 

So, you may be asking yourselves, why zoos?  Well there are a few main reasons (Goldman, 2016).  The first is that within a zoo setting less amphibians will contract chytridiomycosis.  Zoos are a closed environment, which is very easy to monitor which plants are growing within the habitat, and it’s very easy to remove any harmful plants.  Another reason is that, the zoo provides a habitat/shelter that the amphibians may not otherwise have. 

However, there is a problem with getting amphibians into zoos (Goldman, 2016).  Generally, the public don’t care very much about these frogs and newts, especially because a lot of the time these animals cannot be seen as their hidden within vegetation.  However, interest does seem to be increasing in these animals, as the education about the decreasing populations continues to grow.  Zoos are steadily trying to implement education programs, especially ones for young children.  These education programs will hopefully allow for children and adults to understand that the amphibian populations are decreasing, and what we can do in order to stop this steady decline.  These education programs are also causing for an increase in interest of these endangered species.

The overall goal within the next couple of years is to help 40% of the endangered amphibians (Goldman, 2016).  However, at the current pace of getting these species into zoos, this percentage will not be reached for over 20 years.  This is a large amount of time, which may lead to some endangered species becoming extinct. 

Then comes the question, what can we do in order to stop this steady decline, and how can we get these species into zoos faster before they become extinct?  At this point in time the answer is not completely clear. 

Figure 3: Frog hanging on a leaf (available from: http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/how-you-can-help-protect-endangered-frogs/)

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Cites:

Chytridomycosis.  2015.  Wikipedia.  Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chytridiomycosis

Dawson, Jeff; Patel, Freisha; Griffiths, Richard A.; and Young, Richard P.  2015.  Assessing the global zoo response to the amphibian crisis through 20-year trends in captive collections.  Conservation Biology, 30: 82-91 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12563

Goldman, Jason G.  2016.  Can zoos save amphibians?  Available from: http://conservationmagazine.org/2016/01/can-zoos-save-amphibians/

Lӧtters, S.  2008.  Afrotropical amphibians in zoos and aquariums: will they be on the ark?  Amphibian Conservation, 42: 136-142.  DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-1090.2008.00042.x7

Photos:

Gettyimages.  2015.  Kaisers spotted newt larva with external gills.  Available from: http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/kaisers-spotted-newt-larva-with-external-high-res-stock-photography/475186419

Good news network.  2013.  How can you help protect endangered frogs.  Available from: http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/how-you-can-help-protect-endangered-frogs/

Sierra.  2011.  Today is endangered species day. Do you care?  Available from: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2011/05/happy-endangered-species-day.html