implementing the amphibian conservation action plan

Int. Zoo Yb. (2008) 42: 15–23

DOI:10.1111/j.1748-1090.2007.00041.x

Implementing the Amphibian ConservationAction Plan

R. D. MOORE & D. R. CHURCHIUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group and Conservation International, Arlington,Virginia 22202, USAE-mail: [email protected]

The Global Amphibian Assessment, completed in 2004,revealed that over 32% of the c. 6000 amphibian speciesknown worldwide are threatened with extinction. Thisstaggering figure exceeds rates of imperilment for bothbirds (12%) and mammals (23%). Amphibians facethreats from traditional factors, such as habitat loss,unsustainable use, invasive species and pollution. Thesestresses are compounded by more novel threats, such asemerging infectious diseases and climate change, whichare unimpeded by protected-area boundaries. A Summitwas convened in September 2005 to devise a unifiedstrategy for amphibian conservation in the form of theAmphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP; availableat http://www.amphibians.org/). The ACAP outlines a5 year plan to curtail the decline and extinction ofamphibians, and focuses on 11 themes, each with anassociated budget. The total estimated cost of abating thecurrent trend comes to US $400million over the next5 years. While this may appear daunting, it serves tohighlight the urgency of the situation and draws attentionto the need to steer limited resources towards theconservation of this vulnerable group. The ACAP is acall for help to governments, zoos and aquariums,civilians and researchers alike. We need to work togetherif we are going to succeed in stemming a mass extinctionspasm affecting an entire class of vertebrates. The IUCN/SSC (The World Conservation Union/Species SurvivalCommission) Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG; http://www.amphibians.org/), formed after the Summit, isworking to implement the ACAP by stimulating, devel-oping and executing practical programmes to conserveamphibians and their habitats around the world. Inaddition, the ASG is supporting a global web of partnersto develop funding, capacity and technology transfer toachieve shared, strategic amphibian conservation goals.

Key-words: Amphibian Specialist Group; GlobalAction Plan; Global Amphibian Assessment; WorldConservation Union.

INTRODUCTION

In the late 1980s an alarming phenomenoncame to light; the discovery of massive

declines and extinctions affecting an entirevertebrate class across the globe. Subsequentresearch has confirmed that modern amphi-bian declines and extinctions have no prece-dent in any animal class over the last fewmillennia (Stuart et al., 2004). The firstGlobal Amphibian Assessment (GAA), com-pleted in 2004, revealed that over 32% of thec. 6000 known amphibian species are threa-tened with extinction. This is a far higher ratethan that determined for birds (12%) andmammals (23%). Up to 122 amphibian spe-cies may be extinct since 1980 and popula-tion size is declining in at least 43% ofspecies. In the last decades of the 20thcentury the amphibian extinction rate ex-ceeded the mean extinction rate of the last350million years by at least 200 times (Roe-lants et al., 2007).

Amphibians are threatened by ‘traditional’factors, such as habitat loss, over-exploita-tion, pollution and introduced species, butwhat alarmed scientists and conservationistswas the emergence of more novel threats,such as disease and climate change, that donot respect protected-area boundaries. It isoften difficult to determine the cause ofspecies extinctions after the event but it islikely that the human global footprint hascreated conditions that synergistically act tocreate the ‘perfect storm’, thus killing entirepopulations in the wild. The ‘murder by athousand cuts’ analogy is not too far fetched adescriptor of current amphibian declines.

The realization of the scale of the problemled to the assembly in September 2005 of theAmphibian Conservation Summit (ACS)

IMPLEMENTING THE AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATION ACTION PLAN 15

Int. Zoo Yb. (2008) 42: 15–23. c� 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation c� 2008 The Zoological Society of London

convened by IUCN/SSC (World Conserva-tion Union/Species Survival Commission)and Conservation International. Approxi-mately 80 delegates from around the worldspent 4 days in Washington, DC, USA, work-ing on a comprehensive plan to respond to theongoing losses of amphibian species. In addi-tion to novel challenges such as emerginginfectious diseases, toxins and climatechange, delegates also addressed familiarthreats like land-use change, unsustainabletaking and exotic species. The delegatesacknowledged a poor understanding of thecomplex relationships among all the factors.

The ACS produced a consensus amongacademic scientists and conservation practi-tioners. A subset of the ACS delegation alsowrote white papers for each theme coveredthat formed the backbone of a comprehensiveAmphibian Conservation Action Plan(ACAP; Gascon et al., 2007). The ACAPapplies an interdisciplinary approach to ad-dressing the causes of declines and strategiesfor abating the losses of amphibian species.No single answer will prevent the extinctionof more species and as a result the plan willneed to evolve as new information becomesavailable. For the first time, however, theACAP presents a response commensuratewith the scale of the challenge.

AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATIONACTION PLAN

The ACAP sets priorities for conservationand research actions within 11 thematic areas:(1) designing a network of conservation sitesfor amphibians – Key Biodiversity Areas; (2)freshwater resources and associated terrestriallandscapes; (3) climate change, biodiversityloss and amphibian declines; (4) emerginginfectious diseases; (5) over-harvesting ofamphibians; (6) mitigating impacts of envir-onmental contamination in amphibian popu-lation declines; (7) captive programmes; (8)reintroductions; (9) the continuing need forassessments: making the GAA an ongoingprocess; (10) systematics and conservation;(11) bioresource banking efforts in support ofamphibian conservation.

The ACAP is designed to provide gui-dance for implementing amphibian conserva-tion and research initiatives at all scales fromglobal to local. Such guidance will be applic-able to: (1) local NGOs seeking to incorpo-rate amphibians into management plans forprotected areas or to devise a regional ornational strategy for amphibian conservation;(2) governments seeking to fulfil their CBD2010 targets for the protection of biodiver-sity; (3) zoos willing to help save species onthe brink of extinction; (4) researchers work-ing to fill crucial gaps in knowledge, andother pertinent issues. Each of these is sum-marized briefly below, with most attentionpaid to those aspects that relate to zoos.

To date the ACAP has been adopted as aframework for developing National Amphi-bian Action Plans in Madagascar and CostaRica. Locally held workshops addressed thethemes relevant to each region to come upwith a national strategy to combat amphibiandeclines. Certain themes within the ACAPwere more relevant to one country than theother and the respective National ActionPlans were tailored to reflect this. For in-stance, over-harvesting is prevalent in Mada-gascar but is not considered such a pertinentthreat in Costa Rica. Conversely, while Chy-trid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidishas decimated amphibian populations in Cen-tral America, preliminary tests on amphibiansin Madagascar have turned up negative forthe disease. While on the surface this appearslike good news for Madagascar, it could alsospell potential catastrophe for amphibians ifthe disease reaches the island. Therefore,although disease is not currently a majorthreat to the amphibians of Madagascar,lessons from Central America and elsewheresuggest that it would be prudent to be vigilantfor the first signs of disease and take neces-sary precautions to avoid its introduction andspread. Such precautions include enforcinglegislation to minimize movement of animalsinto the country, following protocols forhygiene in the field to minimize risks ofspread, building capacity for captive husban-dry and establishing captive assurance colo-nies for threatened species.

16 AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATION


Each of the 11 themes forming constituentchapters in the ACAP is discussed below.Again those most relevant to the zoo commu-nity are covered in more detail.

Designing a network of conservation sitesfor amphibians – Key Biodiversity Areas

Key Biodiversity Areas, or KBAs, are glob-ally important sites that are large enough orsufficiently interconnected to ensure the per-sistence of populations of the species forwhich they are important. A number of stepsare outlined for the development of a KBAstrategy within the greater ACAP. These stepsrange from identifying, refining and prioritiz-ing KBAs to emergency, short- and long-termactions. It is important to ensure that even-tually all KBAs are safeguarded. Our effortsmust begin with an evaluation of the stateof the biodiversity for which the site wasidentified as a KBA. Subsequently, we canestablish measurable and spatially explicitconservation parameters for the site. To as-sess pressures, we must consider both directpressures that drive species and habitat loss aswell as conditions that prevent an effectiveresponse to these pressures. The estimatedbudget for the actions outlined is US$120million.

Freshwater resources and associatedterrestrial landscapes

Threats to amphibians involve alterations toboth freshwater and terrestrial habitats. Spe-cific actions targeted at addressing these fallwithin three broad categories: securing exist-ing habitat, preventing future habitat loss andrestoring disturbed or compromised habitats.The estimated 5 year budget for the actionsoutlined is US $125million.

Climate change, biodiversity loss andamphibian declines

To address the impacts of climate change onamphibian communities, research is neededto understand how climate change affectsecosystems and amphibians. Focus shouldbe on changes in disease dynamics and the

underlying mechanisms. Using the findings,it is important to develop a predictive modelof amphibian-decline patterns based on thesemechanisms and observed trends. It is alsoimportant to examine the context of declinesto understand broader implications for biodi-versity loss.

Conservation actions in relation to climatechange and amphibian declines need to: (1)increase public awareness about effects ofclimate change; (2) promote changes in en-ergy policy; (3) support initiatives that in-crease community resilience and reducesensitivity to climate change (habitat restora-tion, corridors, etc.); and (4) explore thepossibility of manipulating local and micro-scale climate in light of mechanisms identi-fied. The estimated 5 year budget for theactions outlined is US $7.36million.

Emerging infectious diseases

Currently no vaccines are available for dis-eases impacting amphibians and no effectivetechniques are available for treating the fun-gal disease chytridiomycosis in wild animals.The treatment of amphibians in the wild withanti-fungal agents is problematic. Therefore,simple population management strategies arethe only viable option. These may includecapture of wild individuals, treatment withdrugs or heat that kill B. dendrobatidis, thenbreeding in captivity with the ultimate aim ofreintroduction. Collecting animals for survi-val assurance colonies may be timed to moveahead of any direction of epidemic spread.Disinfection of footwear with 10% chlorinebleach solution to prevent the spread ofdiseases by tourists and other people mov-ing into sites with ‘at risk’ populations hasalso been proposed (www.nwhc.usgs.gov/research/amph_dc/sop_mailing.html).

The ACAP encourages projects that imple-ment imaginative approaches to treating ani-mals in the wild, modifying habitats to curtaildisease spread (e.g. treating vehicles andpeople to reduce risk of pathogen dispersal)and other procedures to prevent extinctionby infection. One crucial part of the armoryis understanding why some species are



tolerant (e.g. Bullfrogs Rana catesbeiana),able to clear infection and recover [e.g.salamanders (Caudata)], or completely resis-tant to infection.

Other strategies may involve captivebreeding to select for resistance to B. dendro-batidis and other diseases, or even biologicalcontrol or release of genetically modifiedpathogens or frogs, while assessing the ethi-cal and conservation implications of releasingsuch animals back into the wild. One of themost important strategies to help mitigate theimpact of chytridiomycosis is to develop theinfrastructure for surveillance and populationmanagement at the sites that are likely to beaffected by this disease in the future. Theestimated 5 year budget for the actions out-lined is US $25.45million.

Over-harvesting of amphibians

The purpose of the ACAP workshop onover-harvesting was to establish a harvestmanagement programme, concentrating on15 countries that appear to be the focus of theheaviest levels of harvest. The actions neededto address this threat are broadly grouped intosix main areas: sustainable use, species actionplans, trade monitoring, commercial breeding/raising, law and enforcement and awareness-raising. The estimated 5 year budget for theactions outlined is US $4.3million.

Mitigating impacts of environmentalcontamination in amphibian populationdeclines

Evidence suggests that contaminants in thepresence of other stressors have a strongpotential to impact amphibians negatively.Efforts to mitigate these impacts are dividedin the ACAP into ‘emergency’, ‘short-term’and ‘long-term’ actions that would be protec-tive of amphibians and the communities inwhich they live. The estimated 5 year budgetfor the actions outlined is US $43.19million.

Captive programmes

Captive programmes may be an essentialcomponent of integrated amphibian conser-

vation plans to avoid imminent extinction ofpopulations and species. A global network ofcaptive-breeding programmes that are expli-citly linked to conservation and researchprogrammes – The Amphibian Ark (AArk;see http://www.amphibianark.org) – hastherefore been formed to implement the exsitu component of ACAP. Activities outlinedin the ACAP fall into four phases:1. Information gathering and emergencycollections; preliminary captive operations.Operating in response to recommendationsfrom local biologists, national governmentsand the various ACAP research branches,rapid-response teams will travel to sites pre-dicted to suffer catastrophic losses to imple-ment pre-emptive collections of animals thatwill form the basis of captive programmes. Aprototype of such a programme has been usedeffectively to rescue the frog fauna of a site inPanama (see http://www.saveafrog.org) (seealso Banks et al., in press).2. Establishment of captive operations in therange countries. Central to the long-termsuccess of a captive programme is the estab-lishment of captive operations in range coun-tries. Infrastructure for such facilities may bereasonably established with portable, modu-lar units (e.g. modified shipping containers)or by simply adapting local warehouses orhouses, or local infrastructure such as botanicgardens, university biology departments andindustrial or government complexes that areeither under-utilized or purpose adapted forthe management of amphibian species. Localbiologists or citizens will be hired and trainedin basic amphibian husbandry. A steady pro-gramme of internships in established amphi-bian facilities in other countries will becritical to maintaining intellectual and practi-cal capacity at range-country facilities. Closecontact and communication among all facil-ities in the network will be maintained by aglobal supervisory staff. Range-country pro-grammes will operate in native languages,and will be aimed to ensure that operativeprotocols are matched to local conditions,culture and infrastructure.3. Research and long-term maintenance ofcaptive operations. In addition to securing



captive colonies in small, modular facilities,back-up populations will be secured in larger,multi-species facilities that provide for effi-cient care, breeding and research on manyspecies. These larger facilities may be in therange country and/or in facilities and pro-grammes outside the range country. Further-more, these facilities will provide the capacityand facilities for research and implementationof cryobanking of gametes of threatenedspecies, thereby serving as an additional safe-guard for species, populations and specificgenetic lineages.4. Providing animals for research and rein-troduction programmes. The captive colonieswill produce the animals needed to meetlong-term research needs and to provideanimals for the ultimate goal of reintroduc-tion to natural habitats.

Many of the species in need of urgentimplementation of captive programmes havenever before been maintained in captivity.Thus, most programmes will face substantialchallenges related to basic husbandry andreproduction at the outset. While these cap-tive colonies will represent a crucialelement of the overall survival plan for aparticular species, they will simultaneouslyprovide important opportunities to conductresearch related to disease susceptibility,management and treatments, reproductivebiology and tolerance of environmental ele-ments related to climate and toxins. Forexample, while various ACAP groups workto better understand the biology, pathologyand potential to control chytrid fungus, cap-tive programmes will work with geneticistsand immunologists to research the potentialfor populations to evolve resistance to thefungal pathogen.5. Genome resource banking. The ACAPoutlines actions for establishing and sustain-ing an active genome resource bank that cancontribute to the conservation of rare amphi-bians. This is explored further in a chapter ofthe ACAP devoted to bioresource banking.Most of the research objectives for genomeresource banking could be met, at leastinitially, by scientists working in (or with)zoological collections. These individuals

must have a strong commitment to capacitybuilding, especially the training of counter-parts in range countries that have high prior-ity species requiring attention. Ideally, studieswould begin in zoos in North America,Europe and Australia where capacity is stron-gest and, once the models are identified andresearch colonies developed, studies will be-gin, preferably with a senior scientist mentor-ing multiple post-doctoral fellows, graduateor undergraduate students. Some of the trai-nees eventually must come from range coun-tries where there is an eventual goal todevelop research/propagation programmesfor high-priority species. This will requirethe development of laboratory and ex situbreeding facilities.

The estimated budget for the actions out-lined for captive programmes is US $41mil-lion plus US $994 200 for genome resourcebanking.

Reintroductions

The IUCN Guidelines for Re-introductions(IUCN, 1998) provide a framework for theprotocols to be followed for amphibians butmay need modifying in view of species-specific requirements or linkages to otherthemes within ACAP. Aspects to take intoconsideration when planning a reintroductionare detailed in the ACAP and summarizedbelow.

Selecting species for reintroduction It is essen-tial that species are carefully appraised for theirsuitability for reintroduction. The followingcriteria, which are elaborated in the ACAP,provide guidance for evaluating whether aspecies is suitable for reintroduction:� Status and distribution of species.� Reversibility of threats.� Life history.� Geographical priorities.

Pre-release assessment of the wild popula-tions The status and distribution of the speciesshould be assessed by a combination ofinterrogation of existing sources of informa-tion (e.g. GAA, local atlases, etc.) and field



survey. Refinement of existing surveymethodologies may be required as an adjunctresearch activity to allow this. Priority specieswill be those that have undergone clearcontractions in historical range, and whichwould be unable to reestablish functionalpopulations (or metapopulations) within thatrange without reintroduction. Introductions toareas outside the historical range will bediscouraged, although climate change datamay suggest that unsuitable areas outside thenatural range may become suitable some-time in the future. Equally, restocking (orsupplementing) existing populations carriesdisease and genetic risks and should not beconsidered unless numbers have fallen belowthose required for a minimum viablepopulation and the associated risks have beenassessed.

Applied ecological research on life history andhabitat requirements Basic population demo-graphic data on the species should be gatheredif these parameters are not already known,as these will be required for populationviability analysis and for informing decisionsabout which stages of the life cycle shouldbe used for the reintroductions. Similarly,habitat requirements need to be determined sothat habitat management, restoration andcreation can be carried out in a way that willmaximize the chances of the reintroductionsucceeding.

Threat mitigation, habitat management, resto-ration and creation The threats leading to thedecline or extinction of the species should beevaluated and neutralized following theprotocol described by Caughley (1994). It islikely that some important threats toamphibians (e.g. climate change, UV-B, etc.)cannot be neutralized, at least in the short tomedium term. In such cases, reintroduction isunlikely to be a viable option.

Following the assessment of habitat require-ments, potential reintroduction sites shouldbe evaluated for management requirements.The programme of habitat managementshould involve maintaining or enhancing ex-isting areas, restoring areas that still exist but

have become unsuitable and creation of newhabitat where appropriate (or a combinationthereof).

Population viability analysis, releaseprotocols and strategic recovery plandevelopment Population and Habitat ViabilityAnalysis may assist in determining targets forminimum viable populations, habitatrequirements and the time frames required toestablish such populations. These targetsshould then be embraced within a stagedplanning process, with interim milestones set,if necessary, to monitor progress of the project.Knowledge of the life history of the speciesshould be used to determine appropriatetargets and time frames for success. EUlegislation requires member states to maintain– or restore to – ‘favourable conservationstatus’ those species of community interest,and this is being used as a generic target inmany species recovery programmes (althoughexplicit definitions of this term may vary fromspecies to species, and region to region).

Reintroductions should involve the releaseof eggs, larvae and/or metamorphs. Previousreintroduction programmes have shown thatusing these stages is most likely to lead tosuccess. However, further research is neededon release protocols (e.g. the relative propor-tions of the different stages, ‘soft’ vs ‘hard’releases, trade-offs of captive vs wild stock,applicability of head-starting technologies).The reintroductions will therefore serve asecological experiments for testing hypothesesconcerning these issues, and protocols will berefined accordingly.

An appropriate organizational infrastruc-ture needs to be established to ensure thesuccess of the programme. This will requirethe cooperation of a wide spectrum of stake-holders ranging from local communities togovernment officials. There may be legalobstacles associated with the release of or-ganisms into the wild that will need to beresolved. Effective lines of communicationneed to be established, language barriersovercome and transparent mechanisms forresolving differences of opinions established.



Risk analysis The movement of living organ-isms from one place to another carriesgenetic, ecological or socio-economic risks.Genetic risks are associated with the release ofmaladapted animals into an area. Donorpopulations will be screened for any potentialproblems associated with maladaptations orinbreeding. This will be combined with alandscape-level analysis of the release site toensure that the released population will notsuffer from any genetic problems as a result ofhabitat isolation in the future. Concern existsover the release of animals whose taxonomicrelationships are unresolved. Linkage with theACAP Systematics Working Group will bemaintained to resolve any issues in this area.

Ecological risks embrace issues associatedwith the inadvertent transmission of diseaseor other organisms. Apparently benign organ-isms may have unforeseen impacts on foodchains when transmitted to new environ-ments. Protocols will therefore be in place tominimize the risk of transmission of propa-gules of potentially invasive species. Com-prehensive health screening will be carriedout on: (1) animals from the donor population(captive or wild); (2) all amphibian speciespresent at the release site. The protocolswill follow those established by the ACAPDisease Working Group (see Chapter 4 ofACAP).

Socio-economic risks are associated withimpacts on the livelihoods of local people. Ifthe reintroduction results in the exclusion ofpeople from traditional areas or ecologicalimpacts that impact on agriculture or otherincome-generating activities, there may beramifications for its likely success. Surveysof attitudes towards the reintroduction withinlocal communities will therefore be carriedout and any conflicts of interest resolved.

Post-release monitoring Many amphibianspecies have cryptic life styles that renderthem extremely difficult to monitor. Con-sequently, research on the refinement ofmonitoring protocols will inform the designof post-release monitoring. Equally, thelonger the generation time of the species thelonger the time frame needed for determining

‘success’. In order to demonstrate whetherthe reintroduction has resulted in the found-ing of self-sustaining populations, each re-introduced species will be monitored formultiple generations. Population and habitatviability analysis will be used to develop thetime frames over which ‘success’ can berealistically assessed using demographic andhabitat data.

The estimated 5 year budget for the actionsoutlined for reintroductions is US $192 000.

The continuing need for assessments:making the GAA an ongoing process

The first phase of the GAAwas completed inOctober 2004. From its inception the GAAwas always considered to be an ongoingprocess. If the GAA is not kept up-to-date,its value will rapidly diminish. The estimated5 year budget for continually updating theGAA is US $370 000.

Systematics and conservation

The ACAP outlines the following activitiesrelevant to systematics and conservation:naming species (1000 spp over the next5 years); training in-country students andauxiliary personnel (e.g. park guards, etc.)and support for in-country experts; short-termvisitation of experts and students to researchcentres; systematic workshops for studentsand young professionals; grants to pursuegraduate school or post-doctoral work insystematics, including grants for in-countryor foreign institutions; amphibian field sur-veys in poorly known areas and areas thathave not been surveyed in the last decade;genetic bar coding (1000 spp); frozen tissuebank of all taxa for molecular analysis and forcell banks; evaluation of Critically Endan-gered and Endangered species (IUCN, 2006)in a phylogenetic analysis to prioritizetaxa for conservation; evaluation of DataDeficient taxa for conservation; publicationof field guides, in local languages; establish-ment, improvement and maintenance of localcollections.

The estimated 5 year budget for the actionsoutlined is US $32.15million.



Bioresource banking

Genome Resource Banks (GRBs) can pro-vide vital materials, such as high-qualityDNA, cellular RNAs and cell fractions, forresearch as well as enhancing reproductionand rescuing genetic variation that wouldotherwise be lost. Collection of researchsamples most feasibly could come from sal-vaged specimens and entail no harm to wildor captive populations. The highest qualityresource that might be obtained from indivi-duals at post-mortem examination wouldlikely be viable cell cultures. Owing to apaucity of literature describing establishmentand freezing of cell cultures from amphi-bians, priority action in bioresource bankingwill need to concentrate effort on productivecollaboration among field biologists, captivebreeding efforts, pathologists and those in-volved in cell culture and cell banking. TheFrozen Zoo at the San Diego Zoo’s centre forConservation and Research for EndangeredSpecies, which demonstrates a successfulhistory in mammalian, avian and reptile cellculture, is suitable and willing to immediatelyundertake efforts to establish cell cultures forthe first time in accordance with the ACAP.The estimated 5 year budget for the actionsoutlined is US $4million.

AMPHIBIAN SPECIALIST GROUP

The ACAP is the most ambitious programmeever developed to combat the extinctionof species, reflecting the reality that theamphibian extinction crisis requires a globalresponse at an unprecedented scale. A re-sponse of this scale needs unprecedentedcoordination to affect a unified global strat-egy. Before the Summit, the Declining Am-phibians Task Force had made incredibleleaps in advancing our knowledge aboutamphibian declines and extinctions. TheGAA followed with a remarkable achieve-ment in assessing the status of every de-scribed amphibian species. These effortsserved as preludes to significant on-the-ground conservation successes achieved bythe Global Amphibian Specialist Group. De-spite these admirable achievements, none of

these entities were designed to implement aunified global strategy to amphibian conser-vation at the scale required. The decision wasmade, therefore, to merge the three bodiesinto one entity: the IUCN/SSC AmphibianSpecialist Group (ASG; http://www.amphi-bians.org). The ASG strives to conservebiological diversity by stimulating, develop-ing, and executing practical programmes toconserve amphibians and their habitatsaround the world. This is achieved by sup-porting a global web of partners to developfunding, capacity and technology transfer toachieve shared, strategic amphibian conser-vation goals. While only so much can beachieved by a few committed individuals; byharnessing the intellectual and financial capa-city of individuals and institutions around theworld we hope to scale up these efforts to anunprecedented level. The ASG publishes abi-monthly newsletter, Froglog (availablefree at http://www.amphibians.org), that pro-vides more information about the activities ofthe ASG.

The implementation of a global unifiedstrategy to amphibian conservation requiresthe international community to enter un-charted territory and to take great risks. TheACAP calls on all governments, NGOs,corporations, civil society, zoos and aqua-riums, and the scientific community to re-spond. Unprecedented commitment will berequired to develop and implement theACAP, and to effect the changes in interna-tional and local environmental policiesneeded to ensure persistence of this class ofvertebrate animals. Through the ACAP weoffer practical, large-scale, creative, innova-tive and realistic actions necessary to haltthe present tide of extinctions of amphibianspecies.

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GASCON, C., COLLINS, J. P., MOORE, R. D., CHURCH, D. R.,MCKAY, J. & MENDELSON III, J. (2007): Amphibian con-servation action plan. Gland, Switzerland and Cam-bridge, UK: IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group.IUCN (1998): IUCN guidelines for re-introductions.Gland and Cambridge: IUCN/SSC.IUCN (2006): 2006 IUCN red list of threatened species.Gland and Cambridge: IUCN. http://www.iucnredlist.org/ROELANTS, K., GOWER, D. J., WILKINSON, M., LOADER, S.P., BIJU, S. D., GUILLAUME, K., MORIAU, L. & BOSSUYT, F.(2007): Global patterns of diversification in the history of

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Manuscript submitted 29 June 2007; revised4 October 2007; accepted 12 November 2007



implementing the amphibian conservation action plan

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