학술논문
Ongoing harlequin toad declines suggest the amphibian extinction crisis is still an emergency
Document Type
article
Author
Stefan Lötters; Amadeus Plewnia; Alessandro Catenazzi; Kelsey Neam; Andrés R. Acosta-Galvis; Yesenia Alarcon Vela; Joshua P. Allen; Juan O. Alfaro Segundo; Ana de Lourdes Almendáriz Cabezas; Gilbert Alvarado Barboza; Kleiton R. Alves-Silva; Marvin Anganoy-Criollo; Ernesto Arbeláez Ortiz; Jackeline D. Arpi Lojano; Alejandro Arteaga; Onil Ballestas; Diego Barrera Moscoso; José D. Barros-Castañeda; Abel Batista; Manuel H. Bernal; Esteban Betancourt; Youszef Oliveira da Cunha Bitar; Philipp Böning; Laura Bravo-Valencia; José F. Cáceres Andrade; Diego Cadenas; Juan Carlos Chaparro Auza; Giovanni A. Chaves-Portilla; Germán Chávez; Luis A. Coloma; Claudia F. Cortez-Fernandez; Elodie A. Courtois; Jaime Culebras; Ignacio De la Riva; Vladimir Diaz; Luis C. Elizondo Lara; Raffael Ernst; Sandra V. Flechas; Thibaut Foch; Antoine Fouquet; Carmen Z. García Méndez; Juan Elias García-Pérez; Diego A. Gómez-Hoyos; Samuel C. Gomides; Jorge Guerrel; Brian Gratwicke; Juan M. Guayasamin; Edgardo Griffith; Valia Herrera-Alva; Roberto Ibáñez; Carlos Iván Idrovo; Andrés Jiménez Monge; Rafael F. Jorge; Alisha Jung; Blake Klocke; Margarita Lampo; Edgar Lehr; Carrie H. R. Lewis; Erik D. Lindquist; Yeny R. López-Perilla; Glib Mazepa; Guido F. Medina-Rangel; Andrés Merino Viteri; Kevin Mulder; Mauricio Pacheco-Suarez; Andry Pereira-Muñoz; José Luis Pérez-González; Maria Alejandra Pinto Erazo; Adolfo Gustavo Pisso Florez; Marcos Ponce; Vicky Poole; Amanda B. Quezada Riera; Aarón J. Quiroz; Michelle Quiroz-Espinoza; Alejandro Ramírez Guerra; Juan P. Ramírez; Steffen Reichle; Hugo Reizine; Mauricio Rivera-Correa; Bernardo Roca-Rey Ross; Andrés Rocha-Usuga; Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues; Sintana Rojas Montaño; Daniela C. Rößler; Luis Alberto Rueda Solano; Celsa Señaris; Alexander Shepack; Fausto R. Siavichay Pesántez; Anton Sorokin; Andrea Terán-Valdez; Grecia Torres-Ccasani; Pablo C. Tovar-Siso; Lina M. Valencia; David A. Velásquez-Trujillo; Michael Veith; Pablo J. Venegas; Jeferson Villalba-Fuentes; Rudolf von May; Juan F. Webster Bernal; Enrique La Marca
Source
Communications Earth & Environment, Vol 4, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2023)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2662-4435
Abstract
Abstract Biodiversity loss is extreme in amphibians. Despite ongoing conservation action, it is difficult to determine where we stand in overcoming their extinction crisis. Among the most threatened amphibians are the 131 Neotropical harlequin toads. Many of them declined since the 1980s with several considered possibly extinct. Recently, more than 30 species have been rediscovered, raising hope for a reversing trend in the amphibian extinction crisis. We use past and present data available for harlequin toads (Atelopus), to examine whether the amphibian extinction crisis is still in an emergency state. Since 2004 no species has improved its population status, suggesting that recovery efforts have not been successful. Threats include habitat change, pathogen spread and climate change. More mitigation strategies need implementation, especially habitat protection and disease management, combined with captive conservation breeding. With harlequin toads serving as a model, it is clear that the amphibian extinction crisis is still underway.