Amphibian conservation: Are we on the right track?

Abstract

Amphibian declines and extinctions are a worldwide concern. Conservation priorities for amphibians should target threatened taxa (taxonomic targets) and regions with high levels of species endemism (geographical targets). Does published research on amphibian conservation reflect the global taxonomic and geographic priorities? I surveyed six years (2000–2005) of 10 conservation and herpetological journals (Amphibia–Reptilia, Animal Conservation, Applied Herpetology, Biodiversity and Conservation, Biological Conservation, Conservation Biology, Copeia, Herpetologica, Journal of Herpetology and Oryx), and analyzed all articles on amphibians. Attention indexes were calculated for orders, threatened species and biogeographic realms. I also examined how well research from tropical developing nations (with high levels of richness and endemism) are represented in the international literature. Attention indexes results show that the most studied amphibian order is Caudata, whereas Gymnophiona is the least studied one. The same trend is observed for threatened species, with threatened Caudata species receiving proportionally more attention than threatened Anura and Gymnophiona. The biogeographic realms that receive most attention by amphibian conservationists are: Oceania, Nearctic and Palearctic. However, the Neotropical, Afrotropical and Indomalayan are the regions with higher species diversity. Forty-one countries contributed articles, but the majority of amphibian conservation research is conducted by North American and western European researchers. There is urgent need for capacity building in tropical developing nations. Amphibians are more threatened and are declining more rapidly than either birds or mammals. However, amphibian conservation is still misplacing its focus in lower-biodiversity regions and non-threatened species. If such trends are not changed, the consequences for the persistence of amphibians worldwide may be dire.