Special Issue "Amphibian Conservation"

Guest Editor
Dr. Ariadne Angulo
P.O. Box 19004, 360 A Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON, M5S 1X1, Canada
E-Mail:
Interests: amphibians; bioacoustics; biodiversity; conservation biology; evolutionary biology; systematics and taxonomy

Dear Colleagues,

During the First World Congress of Herpetology in Canterbury, in 1989, researchers began to suspect that amphibian population declines could be a global phenomenon. At the time, these suspicions were fuelled mostly by anecdotal information of researchers going back to their study sites and finding that populations of their study subjects were much reduced or completely gone. Twenty years later, and in light of much research, it is now widely accepted that amphibian declines are indeed an alarming global phenomenon; so much so that more amphibian species are considered to be at a greater risk of extinction than other major vertebrate groups. Threat factors are varied, with the most obvious and ubiquitous being habitat loss and pollution. However, there are other, less understood factors and their synergies, such as climate change and disease. But it is now thought that declines are escalating into extinctions, so it is urgent to take stock of what is already known, what still needs to be determined, and how to better address amphibian loss and implement amphibian conservation action. In this light, it seems timely to dedicate a commemorative special issue to the subjects of amphibian declines and amphibian conservation in 2009.

Ariadne Angulo, Ph. D.
Guest Editor

Submission Information

All papers should be submitted to diversity@mdpi.org. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special issue website.

Submitted papers should not have been published nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is a new international, peer-reviewed, quarterly open access journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International.

Open Access publication is free of charge for manuscripts submitted in 2009 and published in the first few issues of Diversity. English correction fees and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF will be billed in certain cases (250 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections).

• amphibian declines
• amphibian extinctions
• assessments
• conservation

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Medicine Frog: Use of Amphibians in Herbals and Materia Medica Worldwide
Author: Indraneil Das

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Emerging Ranaviral Infectious Diseases and Amphibian Decline
Author: Jacques Robert
Affiliation: University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, NY, USA; Email: Jacques_robert@urmc.rochester.edu
Abstract: Infectious diseases caused by ranaviruses (RV, family Iridoviridae) not only affect wild amphibian populations but also farming and international animal trade. Although, the prevalence of RV infections and die offs has markedly increased over the last decade, it is yet unclear whether these diseases are direct agents causing extinction or rather are the resulting (secondary) consequences of weakened health of amphibian populations leading to increased susceptibility to viral pathogens. This review discusses recent evidence of the critical role of host immune defenses in controlling RV infections, pathogenicity and transmission.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Changes in Vegetation and Streamflow within the San Francisco Watershed: Implications for a Declining Amphibian
Authors: Kenneth G. Boykin and Kirk C. McDaniel; E-Mail: kboykin@ad.nmsu.edu (K.G.B.)
Abstract: Changes in habitat are often identified as reasons for species declines. These changes are caused by modification of ecological processes. In riparian species these ecological process can be tied to changes in vegetation and stream flow. We analyzed vegetation change and streamflow change within the San Francisco watershed. Vegetation change from 1979 to 2000 was identified as a decline in rangeland (-12%), and woodland (-10%) and an increase in forest (24%). From 1979 to 1989, decreases were observed in rangeland (-13%) with increases in woodland (1%), and forest (10%). From 1989 to 2000, rangeland remained unchanged, woodland decreased (-10%), and forest increased (13%). Streamflow changes included increased average flows and more frequent large floods in both studied watersheds. Sub-watershed base flow and peak flow declined but remained in the range of variability whereas the larger entire watershed base and peak flow increased. Flows corresponded to increases in mean decade precipitation with highs in the 1980s and 1990s. No direct cause and effects relationships were tested, but we did find changes in vegetation and streamflow corresponding to the decline of Rana chiricahuensis within the study watershed. This study provides a conceptual framework to place species conservation in context with changes in ecological processes.