asa_newsletter_winter_2013 - Amphibian Survival Alliance

Volume 1, Number 1
AMPHIBIAN SURVIVAL ALLIANCE NEWSLETTER
the
alliance
Winter 2013
The world’s largest partnership for amphibian conservation
Year of the
Salamander
© Robin Moore
Scaling up conservation, education
and research efforts
LEAPFROG
© Robin Moore
Million Dollar Fund for Frogs
FEATURED PROJECT
Palawan, Philippines
© Molly Bletz
ASG Working Groups
Providing guidance to Alliance partners looking to
prioritize amphibian conservation efforts.
PROBIOTICS
Proactive conservation in Madagascar
Hispaniola Giant Treefrog, Ostoepilus vastus, a threatened species in the
Massif de la Selle, Haiti. © Robin Moore
© Edwin Giesbers
Alliance
Partners in
the Spotlight
Emerald Glass Frogs, Espadarana prosoblepon, from Las Tangaras
Reserve in the Choco forests of Colombia. © Robin Moore
Rainforest Trust
Rainforest Trust joined the Alliance in
2013, recognizing the benefits of working
together to create a global fund to support habitat conservation. Thanks to their
leardership the ASA was recently able to
announce a USD $1,000,000 fund for amphibian conservation.
Global Wildlife Conservation
Joining the Alliance in late 2012, GWC saw
the ASA as an important alliance to further global amphibian conservation efforts. GWC have invested significant staff
resources, seconding two staff to the Alliance to help develop the organization
and projects. GWC also provides the fiscal
framework from which the Alliance secretariat can legally operate.
1% for the Planet
1% for the Planet joined the Alliance in
2013 and is helping to build business partners for the Alliance. This places the ASA
among a diverse, global network of environmental organizations working toward
a more sustainable future. This also makes
ASA eligible to receive funds from over
1000 member businesses, who are using
the power of commerce on behalf of the
environment.
Meet Your Neighbours
Joining the Alliance in 2013, Meet Your
Neighbours is working with the ASA to
help promote the protection and wellbeing of amphibians around the world
through the power of conservation photography.
2
Introduction
A message from the Executive Director of the Amphibian Survival Alliance
For too long now we have heard stories of
declines, extinction and lack of hope with
regards to conserving biodiversity and especially amphibians. The Amphibian Survival
Alliance plans to change this rhetoric by focusing on new opportunities and delivering
conservation successes.
The Alliance Partners have already shown
that much can be achieved, to not only conserve amphibians around the world, but to
help improve the ecosystems in which they
live for the benefit of all biodiversity, including people. Taking these success stories and
building on the work of a dedicated and passionate community we will engage with a
broader and more diverse audience than ever
before in the history of amphibian conservation.
ways. By sharing the impact the ASA is having
on amphibians around the world we will be
able to engage a range of people and donors
who perhaps had not considered supporting
amphibians in the past.
We will ensure that we are judged on our conservation impact. To help donors assess our
success we will continually report on progress made on short, medium and long-term
goals.
This is a new and exciting time for amphibian conservation and research, and we look
forward to working with you to make the
changes we all want to see.
Don Church, Executive Director
Amphibian Survival Alliance
We believe that this movement needs to be
about more than people donating to a cause
that they believe in; it needs to be about people telling their stories, becoming engaged
and focusing on making a difference to the
survival of the 7000+ amphibian species that
live on our planet. We want our supporters
to not only be donors but spokespeople for
the cause, inspired to take action in multiple
The world’s largest partnership for amphibian conservation
The ASG
Working Groups
The Alliance was formed on a foundation of sound science and we are adamant that as the Alliance grows that
this foundation is continually built upon. In Mid 2013 the Alliance developed a working agreement with the IUCN
SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) whereby the ASG would establish itself as the Scientific Advisory Board to
the Alliance.
This was a significant step for the ASG as it meant their previous focus
on implementing habitat protection projects would be handed on to
the Alliance partners allowing them to focus on rallying their extensive network of expert volunteers from around the world.
As with any significant operational change there was always going to
be growing pains but all in all the process is moving forward well. The
ASG immediately identified and began to form the following working groups:
Habitat Protection
•
Climate Change
•
Infectious Diseases
•
Trade & Policy
•
Ecotoxicology
•
Captive Breeding
•
Reintroductions
•
Red List
•
Taxonomy & Systematics
•
Genome Banking
•
Species Conservation Strategies
•
Surveys & Monitoring
•
Communications & Education
Over the course of 2014 Alliance staff will be working closely with the
ASG to continue to develop this process and help provide guidance
to Alliance partners looking to prioritize amphibian conservation efforts.
© Jaime García Moreno
•
Under the leadership of two co-facilitators, groups were then asked
to look at the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP) and identify a range of priority actions that should be implemented by the
Alliance. Key to this process was a clear indication of how the priority
actions fit into a broad conservation strategy. As groups began to
identify priority actions the Alliance quickly moved forward to implement these and by the end of the year were actively working on approximately 90% of actions identified by the working groups.
SIMON STUART, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission
The ASA is leading an unprecedented and coordinated global response to the amphibian extinction crisis by leveraging the capacity of
organizations around the world to tackle the most pressing threats to the most threatened group of vertebrates
3
Palawa
The lush island province of Palawan represents a last frontier for conservation in t
primary forests (the Philippines as a whole has had its original forest cover whittle
oldest and most diverse in Southeast Asia.
Philippine Flat-headed Frog, Barbourula busuangensis, a threatened species from Palawan. © Robin Moore
Mossy Treefrog, Polypedates leucomystax, from Palawan. © Robin
Moore
From left to right: (1) a monitor lizard, Varanus palawanensis, flicks its forked tongue towards the camera in the forests of
Palawan. (2) forests of Cleopatra’s Needle; (3) a Batak child in a makeshift trailer. © Robin Moore
Palawan was identified in a November 2013
study published in Science, as the world’s
fourth most “irreplaceable” area for unique
and threatened wildlife. The unique blend
of endemic species can be explained by
the fact that the island was once connected
to Borneo, resulting in a mix of influences
from Sundaland and the Philippine Archipelago. Threatened species include the
Palawan Bearcat, Philippine Cockatoo (Critically Endangered), Palawan Forest Turtle
(Critically Endangered), Palawan Horned
Frog (Endangered), Palawan Toadlet (Endangered) and Philippine Flat-headed Frog
(Vulnerable). Despite receiving international recognition as a UNESCO Biosphere Re-
serve containing two World Heritage Sites,
the island remains relatively understudied,
and its forests are diminishing as a result of
a variety of pressures.
Puerto Princesa municipality, in the center
of the island, contains 65% forest cover and
one National Park: Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. The eastern
boundary of the 22,000 hectare National
Park follows the most west flank of Cleopatra’s needle, the highest and most pristine
peak in northern Palawan. Key habitats,
population strongholds of endangered
species and the presence of tribal people
were not fully included when designating
Hylarana nicobariensis on the island of Palawan. © Robin Moore
4
The world’s largest partnership for amphibian conservation
an
the Philippines, boasting half of its original
ed down to just 3%) that are some of the
Palawan horned frog, Megophrys ligayae, a threatened species from the Philippines. © Robin Moore
the park boundaries and this has left about 80,000 hectares of forest, including the peak of Cleopatra’s Needle (the source of many rivers that wind through the forests), unprotected. The area is home to
the last 200 members of the Batak tribe. This tribe of hunter gatherers, the first inhabitants of the Philippines originating in Papua New
Guinea, still live in balance with the forest. They live in simple makeshift huts and travel around gathering resin, and honey while catching the occasional Palawan Bearded Pig.
In order to protect these unique forests in perpetuity, local group
the Center for Sustainability are, with the support of ASA, Rainforest
Trust and the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, working with the local government of Puerto Princesa and the Batak peoples to create
and delineate, by the end of 2014, Cleopatra’s Needle Forest Reserve.
The Reserve will encompass between 40,000 and 50,000 hectares of
primary forest and a management plan for the area will be informed
by upcoming comprehensive biodiversity surveys to ensure the survival of myriad endemic species.
Visit our website to find out more and support this project.
From left to right: (1) portrait of a Batak family in Puerto Princesa municipality, Palawan (2)
Cleopatra’s Needle, Palawan; (3) Green crested lizard, Bronchocela cristatella, in the forests of
Puerto Princesa municipality, Palawan. © Robin Moore
A juvenile Palawan horned frog, Megophrys ligayae. © Robin Moore
5
2014
Year of the
Salamander
Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC), the Amphibian Survival
Alliance and conservation groups from
around the world have designated 2014
as the Year of the Salamander (YoSal).
Through this partnership, organizations
and individuals will work together to not
just raise awareness of salamanders but
also really scale up global salamander conservation, education and research efforts.
As part of its commitment to YoSal, the
Alliance is working with a number of US
based organizations to help focus efforts
and raise awareness of conservation opportunities for the Red Hill Salamander
in Alabama. The Red Hills Salamander
project provides a fantastic opportunity
to showcase how communities, governments, non-profits and industry can all
work together to help save amphibians
and create a healthy environment.
The Alliance is also working with a range
of partners around the world to ensure
that YoSal is truly an international event.
Alliance partners are helping to create
educational materials, identify priority
projects and further research activities all
intertwind with YoSal to help promote
these incredible species and encourage
others to help protect them long into the
future. Over the course of this year we will
be reporting on a number of YoSal related
activities.
If you are interested in becoming involved
in YoSal please contact Candace Hansen:
cmhansen@amphibians.org
6
Important Amphibian
Areas
The goal of Important Amphibian Areas is to identify, protect and manage
a global network of sites important for the long term persistence of amphibian populations across their natural ranges.
It is a systematic approach to identify those
sites that contribute significantly to the
maintenance of amphibian diversity, and
for which a site-based approach is appropriate - similar to BirdLife’s successful IBA
programme. The sites are a subset of the
Key Biodiversity Areas and follow the same
methodology as these are restricted exclusively to amphibian species.
We are working on this together with IUCN,
which is developing on new standards for
the KBA definition, and BirdLife, which
currently curates the existing KBA-IBA database. We have talked to AmphibiaWeb
about the possibility of using their mapping
skills to set up an online IAA catalogue, aided by the California Academy of Sciences
and the University of Trier.
The Massif de la Hotte in southwest Haiti contains one of
the highest concentrations of critically endangered frogs
in the world. © Robin Moore
The forests surrounding Cleopatra’s Needle, on the island
of Palawan in the Philippines, have been recognized as
a Key Biodiversity Area on account of their unique and
threatened biodiversity. © Robin Moore
Frog Probiotics
In response to the priorities set by amphibian summits convened by the
IUCN in 2005 and 2009, the ASA is focusing on habitat protection and disease mitigation as the major thematic areas for conservation action.
Although amphibian disease continues
to be a threat for which mitigation in the
field remains experimental, there has been
progress both in the laboratory and in
field experiments for reducing the threat
of amphibian chytridiomycosis. Most notably, probiotics can be developed using
native bacterial strains that inhibit pathogenic chytrid fungus. To date, experimental
implementation has been limited to North
America, with a successful field trial completed in California by Vance Vredenburg
and his collaborators. The ASA recently appointed Reid Harris, the originator of the
probioitic treatment for amphibian chytridiomycosis, as Director of International
Disease Mitigation. As a first priority, Harris
and an international team led by the Malagasy Chytrid Emergency Cell are working
to monitor the strains of the chytrid fungus
that are likely to arrive at any time in Madagascar, and build on the early discovery
of anti-chytrid bacteria that his team col-
lected and cultured in 2013 from the island.
This effort will be a major focus of the ASA
in 2014 with plans to develop a fully implementable probiotic tool for Madagascar,
New Guinea and other areas of the world
with amphibian populations that are, as
yet, naive to chytrid fungus. Our partners
in the Malagasy probiotic initiative include
Molly Bletz at the Technische Universität
Braunschweig, Doug Woodhams at the University of Colorado, Kevin Minbiole at Villanova University and Louise Rollins-Smith at
Vanderbilt University.
Harlequin mantella (Mantella cowani) © Molly Bletz
The world’s largest partnership for amphibian conservation
The Amphibian Survival Alliance has joined forces with Rainforest
Trust, Global Wildlife Conservation and the Andrew Sabin Family
Foundation to commit one million dollars to protect key amphibian
habitats worldwide over the coming year. The fund, which has been
named the Leapfrog Conservation Fund, will be dispersed through
the ASA to tackle the primary threat to the survival of amphibians,
and biodiversity as a whole - habitat loss. Through the strategic protection of key parcels of amphibian habitat worldwide, the Leapfrog Conservation Fund seeks to protect dozens of threatened and
endemic amphibian species and the ecosystems upon which they
depend. Through dynamic international collaboration, the fund is
poised to leverage this initial investment to truly scale up habitat
protection for frogs, salamanders and caecilians. The fund builds on
conservation successes such as preserving the Sierra Caral of Guatemala, and seeks to build upon these successes elsewhere in Latin
America, Africa and Asia.
More information on the fund can be found here.
If you have a project to submit for consideration or are interested in
developing a proposal for the Leapfrog Conservation Fund please
contact Robin Moore including the following information:
•
Project location
•
Lead local partner (with appropriate links to website etc)
•
Target species (including IUCN Status and whether they are AZE
triggers)
•
Proposed actions, timeline and approximate budget (please
note, the Leapfrog Conservation Fund supports the creation of
new protected areas for amphibians. It does not, at this time,
support research projects).
Amazing Amphibians
The Amazing Amphibians initiative was born out of a joint desire to share the incredible diversity of amphibians
with the world.
Biodiversity is the backbone of all life on earth and through this initiative we hope to celebrate some of the amazing amphibians around
us, promote the fantastic work taking place to protect them by partners such as yourself and highlight the areas we, as an Alliance, still
need to work on.
It was inspired by the widely popular “Amazing Species” weekly
web initiative which is run by the Species Survival Commission and
supported by the IUCN Global Species Programme to increase the
awareness of our globally threatened species.
Every second Monday a new Amazing Amphibian will be posted
online for you to share on your website, social media network and
through email. We hope that as an Alliance partner, you will help
spread the word about just how Amazing Amphibians really are.
7
FrogLog
Share Your
Stories!
Conservation news for the herpetological community: FrogLog 109 is now
online.
Inside this Special Edition of FrogLog, we
showcase examples of collaborative amphibian conservation efforts from around
the world—from Mexico to The Netherlands, from Honduras to South Africa, from
Poland to Jamaica, Ireland and beyond.
© Edwin Giesbers
The April edition of FrogLog will focus on
The Americas: South, Central and North (including Canada and the Caribbean). Here
is your chance to feature some of the work
being you are undertaking in this part of
the world. We want to give you a chance to
let others know what you have been doing,
what has been working and what you have
achieved.
Over the course of the past four months,
we have been working towards becoming
one of the largest online platforms to visit
for learning about amphibian conservation. One of the ways we hope to achieve
this goal is through the development of
our blog.
The deadline to submit your articles for this
edition is March 1, 2014. Articles should be
submitted to cmhansen@amphibians.org.
You can read previous editions of FrogLog
here. General information for authors submitting to FrogLog can be found here.
We know that there is no greater source of
information and inspiring stories than Alliance partners that are actively involved
in amphibian conservation on multiple
fronts and now we’re inviting you to share
your experiences, project updates and
knowledge on our blog.
If you have any questions, comments or
suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
A new species of toad from Las Tangaras Reserve in the
Choco forests of Colombia. © Robin Moore
© Jaime García Moreno
Please contact us to pitch an idea for a
blog post or to have yourself or your organization join the blogging team.
8
In May of this year, we will also be publishing
another special edition of FrogLog: FrogLog
Jr. As we work to engage and support the
next generation of amphibian conservationists, we are thrilled to announce that
Avalon Theissen, the founder of Amphibian
Survival Alliance partner organization Conserve It Forward, will be joining the FrogLog
team as Guest Editor.
Communication and education are both key
to grow and sustain support for amphibian
conservation. Two of the immediate priority actions that were identified by the ASG’s
Communications and Education Working
Group include:
•
Increasing awareness, knowledge, and
access to resources and media about
the ecological and cultural value of amphibians and their habitats; and
•
Sharing uplifting stories and successes
that generate enthusiasm and provide
inspiration for successfully sustaining
amphibian conservation efforts.
Masked Treefrog, Smilisca phaeota, from Las Tangaras
Reserve in the Choco of Colombia. © Robin Moore
Together with partners, the ASA is continuing to develop and push forward a series of
campaigns that are addressing these priority
actions.
If you would like to get involved with any of
these campaigns please contact us.
The world’s largest partnership for amphibian conservation
The Partners
The following organizations are recognized for their ongoing
commitment to amphibian conservation:
Synchroncity Earth
Center for Biological Diversity
Natura Servis
Chester Zoo
TSTP.tv
Red Anfibios Chiapas
Faunam
Conserve It Forward
SEMAHN Chiapas
Swedish Association of Zoos SDF
A-Team for Wildlife
Societas Herpetologica Europaea
ZSL
Honduran Amphibian Rescue and
Conservation Center
SRARNZ
Global Wildlife Conservation
Detroit Zoo
University of Otago
IUCN SSC
CBSG
Rainforest Trust
WAZA
Amphibian Specialist Group
1% for the planet
Friends of Target 12
Terraviva Grants Directory
Rainforest Alliance
Amphibian Ark
AmphibiaWeb
Anima Mundi
The Biodiversity Group
The Wandering Herpetologist
Save The Salamanders
SSAR
Univ. Politecnica Chiapas
Zoos Victoria
Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy
CONABIO
Nordens Ark
Frankfurt Zoo
Hamilton Zoo
UNICACH
Herpetological League
EWT
RAVON
Durrell
Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust
ASIH
Reptile and Amphibian Program Sierra Leone
AZE
Save The Frogs-Ghana
Bristol Zoo Gardens
Herp-Ghana
Burgers’ Zoo
Meet Your Neighbours
EAZA
Reptilicious
ECOSUR
Herpin Time Radio
Mpio. Berriozábal
Potmarge Amphibian Connectivity
Project
Mpio. San Cristóbal
Masked Treefrog, Smilisca phaeota, from the Choco forests of Colombia. © Robin Moore
Join the Alliance
If your organization or institution is interested in joining the Amphibian Survival Alliance please contact us for further details.
As an ASA partner you will not only demonstrate your dedication to stopping this severe extinction crisis, but also provide the much
needed support to drive this initiative forward and on to success.
Your support will demonstrate that inaction and indifference to this crisis are unacceptable and that we must work together to restore
populations of all threatened native amphibian species within natural ecosystems worldwide.
www.amphibians.org