On the Data Deficient amphibians occurring in Colombia

Cristian Román Palacios,Alejandro Valencia Zuleta

doi:10.15517/rbt.v66i3.30818

Cristian Román Palacios, Alejandro Valencia Zuleta

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v66i3.30818

Copy DOI

Abstract

Whereas more than 10 % of the global amphibian richness is known to occur in Colombia, almost 16 % of these species are currently classified as Data Deficient according to the IUCN. These estimates suggest that the available data for a large portion of the amphibians occurring in Colombia is insufficient to assess extinction risk. Here we aim to (1) review the available information on the distribution of the Colombian Data Deficient (DD hereafter) amphibians, (2) analyze their geographic distribution, and (3) evaluate the relationship between anthropogenic impact and their current conservation status. For this, we first compiled geographical records for the DD amphibian species using primary sources. Geographical records were obtained mainly from taxonomic descriptions and non-systematic surveys. We then estimated the geographical range and inferred the potential distribution for each species using LetsR and MaxEnt, respectively. We quantified the human footprint for each species and tested the relationship between spatial distribution and anthropogenic change across populations. Analyses are here based on 128 of the 129 amphibians that occur in Colombia and are currently listed as DD. We found that most of these species were recently described and have small geographic ranges. A large proportion of these DD amphibians inhabit the Colombian Andes, and their populations have been strongly affected by human activities. Overall, the spatial clustering suggests that many of these species have faced similar environmental and anthropogenic pressures that have contributed to their rareness. We also suggest that the conservation status of several of the analyzed DD amphibians should be changed to account for the threats they face.

Highlights

Given that biodiversity is currently threatened by human-mediated processes, multiple initiatives have been proposed to assess the conservation status of the different taxonomic groups across the globe (Thomas et al, 2004; International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN], 2016)
We compiled a total of 478 occurrences for 128 of the 129 DD species of amphibians distributed in Colombia, with most records corresponding to only three species: Pristimantis lynchi (5 %), Bolitoglossa lozanoi (3 %), and Vitreorana ritae (3 %) (Table S1, Table S2 and Table S3)
Distribution of the DD amphibians: Colombian DD amphibian species are known from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panamá, Perú, and Venezuela

Summary

Introduction

Given that biodiversity is currently threatened by human-mediated processes, multiple initiatives have been proposed to assess the conservation status of the different taxonomic groups across the globe (Thomas et al, 2004; International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN], 2016). The currently unavailable information on population size, range area, and rate of population decline for these species classifies them under a category that does not diagnose their conservation status (Rodrigues, Pilgrim, Lamoreux, Hoffmann, & Brooks, 2006; IUCN, 2016; Collen et al, 2016). This involves the description of their geographical ranges and the quantification of the anthropogenic pressures that each species experiences throughout its distribution. We used this information to address whether the DD category describes accurately the current conservation status of the same amphibian taxa. In general, this category hides the potential threats that are experienced by most of these amphibian species

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion