Summary1. Altered global climates in the 21st century pose serious threats for biological systems and practical actions are needed to mount a response for species at risk. 2. We identify management actions from across the world and from diverse disciplines that are applicable to minimizing loss of amphibian biodiversity under climate change. Actions were grouped under three thematic areas of intervention: (i) installation of microclimate and microhabitat refuges; (ii) enhancement and restoration of breeding sites; and (iii) manipulation of hydroperiod or water levels at breeding sites. 3. Synthesis and applications. There are currently few meaningful management actions that will tangibly impact the pervasive threat of climate change on amphibians. A host of potentially useful but poorly tested actions could be incorporated into local or regional management plans, programmes and activities for amphibians. Examples include: installation of irrigation sprayers to manipulate water potentials at breeding sites; retention or supplementation of natural and artificial shelters (e.g. logs, cover boards) to reduce desiccation and thermal stress; manipulation of canopy cover over ponds to reduce water temperature; and, creation of hydrologoically diverse wetland habitats capable of supporting larval development under variable rainfall
Protected areas are critical for the conservation of many threatened species. Despite this, many protected areas are acutely underfunded, which reduces their effectiveness significantly. Tourism is one mechanism to promote and fund conservation in protected areas, but there are few studies analyzing its tangible conservation outcomes for threatened species. This study uses the 415 IUCN critically endangered frog species to evaluate the contribution of protected area tourism revenue to conservation. Contributions were calculated for each species as the proportion of geographic range inside protected areas multiplied by the proportion of protected area revenues derived from tourism. Geographic ranges were determined from IUCN Extent of Occurrence maps. Almost 60% (239) of critically endangered frog species occur in protected areas. Higher proportions of total range are protected in Nearctic, Australasian and Afrotopical regions. Tourism contributions to protected area budgets ranged from 5–100%. These financial contributions are highest for developing countries in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Neotropical regions. Data for both geographic range and budget are available for 201 critically endangered frog species with proportional contributions from tourism to species protection ranging from 0.8–99%. Tourism's financial contributions to critically endangered frog species protection are highest in the Afrotropical region. This study uses a coarse measure but at the global scale it demonstrates that tourism has significant potential to contribute to global frog conservation efforts.
Environmental factors play an integral role, either directly or indirectly, in structuring faunal assemblages. Water chemistry, predation, hydroperiod and competition influence tadpole assemblages within waterbodies. We surveyed aquatic predators, habitat refugia, water height and water chemistry variables (pH, salinity and turbidity) at 37 waterbodies over an intensive 22‐day field survey to determine which environmental factors influence the relative abundance and occupancy of two habitat specialist anuran tadpole species in naturally acidic, oligotrophic waterbodies within eastern Australian wallum communities. The majority of tadpoles found were of Litoria olongburensis (wallum sedge frog) and Crinia tinnula (wallum froglet) species, both habitat specialists that are associated with wallum waterbodies and listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Red List. Tadpoles of two other species (Litoria fallax (eastern sedge frog), and Litoria cooloolensis (cooloola sedge frog)) were recorded from two waterbodies. Tadpoles of Litoria gracilenta (graceful treefrog) were recorded from one waterbody. Relative abundance and occupancy of L. olongburensis tadpoles were associated with pH and water depth. Additionally, L. olongburensis tadpole relative abundance was negatively associated with turbidity. Waterbody occupancy by C. tinnula tadpoles was negatively associated with predatory fish and water depth and positively associated with turbidity. Variables associated with relative abundance of C. tinnula tadpoles were inconclusive and further survey work is required to identify these environmental factors. Our results show that the ecology of specialist and non‐specialist tadpole species associated with ‘unique’ (e.g. wallum) waterbodies is complex and species specific, with specialist species likely dominating unique habitats.
In an environment that is changing due to anthropogenic processes, managers responsible for conservation of threatened species need to know environmental limits beyond which those species are at risk of extinction. We demonstrate estimation of environmental limits for a threatened species using a novel combination of response modeling techniques. Our study species was Litoria olongburensis (wallum sedgefrog), which has a biphasic lifecycle (aquatic larvae and terrestrial adult phases) with larvae developing in naturally acidic wetlands of coastal sandy lowlands (“wallum”) of subtropical eastern Australia. Land development in, and around, areas occupied by the frog is the main cause of the species’ decline, while climate change is emerging as a new threat. The species will continue to decline where these processes destroy, fragment or degrade habitat. We surveyed waterbodies throughout the latitudinal range of the species’ distribution, recording wallum sedgefrog density and environmental variables including abiotic waterbody characteristics, key vegetation types, potential competitors and potential predators. For each environmental variable, we tested the fit of increasingly complex response models to the highest possible quantile of wallum sedgefrog density. The best‐fitting model indicated the most likely response, if any, to the variable. This model was then applied to estimate environmental limits. Our analysis indicated wallum sedgefrogs were less likely to occur in waterbodies with pH outside 3.53–4.61 (± 0.11) and maximum water depth outside 23.4–46.0 (± 3.5) cm, and their density decreased with increasing densities of eastern sedgefrogs, wallum froglets and common froglets. The optimal pH levels and water depths indicated by our analysis provide a necessary baseline for predicting and responding to impacts on wallum sedgefrogs caused by changes in land use or climate. The negative relationship with eastern sedgefrogs supports the hypothesis that competition from eastern sedgefrogs is the mechanism that limits occurrence of wallum sedgefrogs in higher pH wetlands. The modeling framework that we developed for our study can be applied to improve management of other species exposed to anthropogenic threats including climate change.
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