Global amphibian population declines

Houlahan, Jeff E.; Findlay, C. Scott; Meyer, Andrea; Kuzmin, Sergius L.; Schmidt, Benedikt R.

doi:10.1038/35087661

Cited by 26 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Green (2003), however, argued that this model for amphibian population dynamics is unlikely to be general because positive and negative population growth rates were equally common. Population fluctuations driven by stochastic variation in recruitment, such as under the models of Pechmann and Wilbur (1994) and Alford and Richards (1999), would not show such a pattern (Houlahan et al 2001;Green 2003). The distribution of population growth rates as described by Green (2003) is consistent, however, with fluctuations around a return point.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog

et al. 2006

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Experimental research has identified many putative agents of amphibian decline, yet the population-level consequences of these agents remain unknown, owing to lack of information on compensatory density dependence in natural populations. Here, we investigate the relative importance of intrinsic (density-dependent) and extrinsic (climatic) factors impacting the dynamics of a tree frog (Hyla arborea) population over 22 years. A combination of log-linear density dependence and rainfall (with a 2-year time lag corresponding to development time) explain 75% of the variance in the rate of increase. Such fluctuations around a variable return point might be responsible for the seemingly erratic demography and disequilibrium dynamics of many amphibian populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog

et al. 2006

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“…Devido aos diferentes graus de toxicidade que estes produtos concentram, contribuem para a diminuição de espécies e contaminação de solos e água, já que o desenvolvimento larval em anfíbios anuros geralmente ocorre em ambiente aquático, embora possa ocorrer em outros ambientes (Duellman eTrueb 1994). Além disso, as mudanças ambientais crescentes contribuem para o número de relatos sobre declínios e extinções populacionais de anfíbios em muitas regiões do mundo (Blaustein e Wake 1995, Houlahan et al;2000, Collins e Storfer, 2003.…”

Section: "Os Sapos São Verdadeiros Amigos Sendo Controladores Do Ecounclassified

Percepção ambiental de agricultores de região semiárida sobre os anfíbios anuros e biocontrole de insetos pragas em sistemas irrigados e não irrigados, às margens do rio São Francisco, Brasil

Oliveira

Lucena

Freire

2017

G. Sci.

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Dentre a diversidade biológica habitante da Caatinga, os anfíbios contribuem em diversas funções ecológicas, apesar de sua relevância ser pouco conhecida e reconhecida em comunidades locais e até por gestores ambientais. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste estudo foi identificar o conhecimento empírico das comunidades agrícolas de Petrolândia e Itacuruba, ambas no Estado de Pernambuco, semiárido brasileiro, sobre a importância dos anfíbios anuros para o controle natural de insetos pragas, em substituição aos agroquímicos. Realizaram-se 369 entrevistas semiestruturadas sobre o conhecimento das comunidades locais acerca dos anfíbios anuros, seus modos de vida, e os tipos de pragas agrícolas existentes na região. Os resultados demonstraram que esses agricultores reconhecem os anfíbios como importantes no controle de pragas (87%, n=238, em Petrolândia; 79%, n=131, em Itacuruba), como também que o uso de agroquímicos na lavoura pode ter influenciado a migração dos anuros para as áreas urbanas (Petrolândia, 75% n=238; Itacuruba, 83% n=131). A maioria dos agricultores, 79% (n=238) Petrolândia e 87% (n=131) em Itacuruba, reconhece que muitas espécies já não existem mais nessa região. Os conhecimentos locais sobre os modos de vida dos anuros possibilitaram a identificação de pontos de localização em três mapas (dois em Itacuruba, um em Petrolândia), indicando a localização dos principais sítios de reprodução dos anuros. Estas informações, atreladas ao conhecimento empírico das comunidades estudadas, são relevantes e podem constituir subsídios à parceria no processo de conservação dos anfíbios e diminuição do uso de agroquímicos nas lavouras.

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“…1b). The temporal and spatial patterning of these losses has since been questioned by re-analysis using an analysis of variance approach to take account of differences between years in the set of populations being recorded [54], but the overall finding -that there has been a marked decline in amphibian numbers worldwide -remains robust [55].…”

Section: Opinionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the changing state of nature

Balmford

Green

Jenkins

2003

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

314

265

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Most attempts to quantify the impact of humanity on nature and bring it to public attention have centred around estimates of extinction rates. Suggestions that these figures have been exaggerated are, in our view, misplaced, but extinction rate estimates do face other problems -inevitable uncertainty, an arguably weak link to economic value, and insensitivity to short-term change. We therefore look here at other large-scale measures of the changing state of nature, focusing on recent analyses of trends in population size, numbers of populations and habitat extent. In spite of being limited by sampling inadequacies, these data provide a sensitive short-term complement to the long-term perspective gained from considering extinction rates that can be linked directly both to economic values and to public concerns. Although further work is needed on extinction rates, we conclude that significant new emphasis should be placed on instituting broader, more systematic monitoring of habitats and populations.For almost a quarter of a century, much of the effort put into quantifying the scale and significance of the impacts of humans on our fellow creatures has centred around assessing rates of species extinction [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. This is understandable: ongoing attempts to clone ancient DNA from mammoths [13] and thylacines [14] notwithstanding, extinctions are forever. Estimating rates of human-driven extinction thus addresses a major moral concern. Nevertheless, quantifying extinction is difficult, and extinction rates are relatively insensitive to short-term changes in human impacts. Against this background, it is timely to look at measures of habitat loss, and at newly emerging meta-analyses of changes in populations. These too suffer from undersampling and biases in coverage, but are more sensitive to short-term changes in drivers, and are linked more immediately to economic concerns about the value of ecosystem services. Concerns about extinction ratesBecause species greatly outnumber field biologists (and most of these study species-poor groups [15,16]), we have reasonably comprehensive information about recent extinction rates for only a handful of more readily studied, species-poor groups (such as birds, large mammals and palms [7]). We have little data with which to infer how representative extinction rates for these taxa are for biodiversity as a whole. Moreover, educated guesswork suggests that biologists have described less than half and perhaps ,10% of all the species on Earth [4,17]. Hence, any extrapolation from extinction rates for well-known groups to estimates of the total number of extinctions per year across all groups is impossible. Instead, conservation scientists usually estimate extinction rates in relative terms as the proportion of species going extinct during a given interval, or as average species life spans [2,6,12].A related difficulty is that, because of the scarcity of fieldworkers, most extinctions (even in well studied groups) go unwitnessed. Therefore, extinction r...

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Global amphibian population declines

Cited by 26 publications

References 3 publications

Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog

Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog

Percepção ambiental de agricultores de região semiárida sobre os anfíbios anuros e biocontrole de insetos pragas em sistemas irrigados e não irrigados, às margens do rio São Francisco, Brasil

Measuring the changing state of nature

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