Conservation in the Andean Highlands of South America: A Habitat Enhancement Plan for Tematobius philippii, a Critically Endangered Species in the Ascotán Salt Flat in Chile

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a rare amphibian conservation success story (so far) and the authors should be commended. I would like to see three improvements to the ms., however. First, the English needs to be improved throughout the ms. Second, the abstract needs to more better reflect the paper (it gets specific quickly, out of context), and third, the authors must add a section at the end of the Discussion detailing future work (these projects ultimately do no good if they are temporary).

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English must be improved. This study is valuable, and I would like to see it communicated without difficulty to its English-speaking readers.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions in the re-submitted files

Comments 1: The English needs to be improved throughout the ms 
Response 1: We have corrected and improved the English throughout the manuscript

Comments 2: The abstract needs to more better reflect the paper (it gets specific quickly, out of context)
Response 2: The abstract has been revised to provide a better overview of the paper.

Comments 3: the authors must add a section at the end of the Discussion detailing future work (these projects ultimately do no good if they are temporary).
Response 3: A "Future Directions" section has been added to detail the project's next steps and the need for ongoing monitoring

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Currently, in addition to habitat protection and limited human impact, measures related to biotechnical interventions are being supplemented. For amphibians, these include maintaining and/or creating spawning ponds, reducing mortality factors during migration, and creating shelters and wintering areas. These measures are especially necessary for endangered species, where conventional measures cannot preserve the species and maintain their numbers.
This urgency stems from the high conservation status of the IUCN (CR - Critically Endangered) since 2015 and the high conservation priority of the species in the Andean highlands.

Comments:
1. Information on the taxonomic status is required, taking into account new data (Fibla et al., 2024, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14243612) and conservation measures for species of the genus Telmatobius (Hernández-Rojas et al., 2025, https://doi.org/10.3390/su17188139).

2. The authors indicate that water abstraction for water use is the main cause of habitat degradation; however, policies for regulating and monitoring reservoir levels and groundwater are not included as recommendations for the conservation of this species' population.
3. Further hydrochemical analysis of the reservoir and further study of populations without removing animals are needed, in general, a monitoring program for species of the genus Telmatobius, for example, Telmatobius fronteriensis (Lobos et al., 2025, 10.1002/aqc.70137)

References:
Fibla, P.; Sáez, P.A.; Lobos, G.; Rebolledo, N.; Véliz, D.; Pastenes, L.; del Pozo, T.; Méndez, M.A. Delimitation of Endangered Telmatobius Species (Anura: Telmatobiidae) of the Chilean Salt Puna. Animals 2024, 14, 3612. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14243612
Hernández-Rojas, M.; Estévez, R.A.; Romero, C.; Perez, S.; Labra, F.A. Integrating Species Richness, Distribution and Human Pressures to Assess Conservation Priorities in High Andean Salares. Sustainability 2025, 17, 8139. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17188139
Lobos, G., Rebolledo, N.C. Campos, J.S. et al. Natural History and Conservation Status of the Endangered Andean Water Frog Telmatobius fronteriensis in Northern Chile. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. 2025. 35 (4).

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions in the re-submitted files.

Comments 1: Information on the taxonomic status is required, taking into account new data (Fibla et al., 2024, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14243612) and conservation measures for species of the genus Telmatobius (Hernández-Rojas et al., 2025, https://doi.org/10.3390/su17188139).

Response 1: We have added the information from Fibla et al., 2024 (see page 2, paragraph 3, line 5), which now corresponds to reference number 21: “Subsequently, the populations inhabiting the Ascotán and Cárcote salt flats were reclassified as T. philippii based on genetic analysis [20–21]”.  

We have added the information from Hernández-Rojas et al., 2025 (see page 2, paragraph 4, lines 8-10), which now corresponds to reference number 29: “Recently, an integrated analysis of anthropogenic pressures and habitat availability prioritized this salt flat in terms of its protection, highlighting the presence of T. philippii [29]”.

 

Comments 2: The authors indicate that water abstraction for water use is the main cause of habitat degradation; however, policies for regulating and monitoring reservoir levels and groundwater are not included as recommendations for the conservation of this species' population.

Response 2: We have included recommendations in page 9, "Future Directions" section (see the second paragraph): …“Furthermore, it is also essential to maintain the monitoring program for groundwater levels —particularly once water extraction ceased, which is permitted until 2029 —, to reassess this population at least annually and compare it with natural populations present in other spring, to promote the protection of natural springs that still harbor this species, and to strengthen environmental education programs with the local communities”.

 

Comments 3: Further hydrochemical analysis of the reservoir and further study of populations without removing animals are needed, in general, a monitoring program for species of the genus Telmatobius, for example, Telmatobius fronteriensis (Lobos et al., 2025, 10.1002/aqc.70137)

Response 3: We have included information on the habitat and physicochemical water characteristics in the "Study Area" section (page 3, paragraph 2). Additionally, we have added a table with the measured parameters from spring 11 and two additional springs that host Telmatobius frogs in Ascotán (Table S4 in Supplementary Material):

"From a habitat and physicochemical perspective, V11 has a similar substrate, depth, aquatic vegetation cover, pH, and turbidity to two other natural springs (V6 and V7) that host Telmatobius. However, it recorded higher temperatures and lower levels of total dissolved solids and conductivity, differences which may result from the artificial recharge (Table S4 in Supplementary Material).

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The reviewer thanks the authors for their edit.