One Third of Costa Rican Amphibians Found to be Threatened

Amphibians are disappearing more quickly than birds and mammals. This was the shocking finding of the first Global Amphibian Assessment completed in 2004. Now, experts are gearing up for a second global assessment to determine the conservation status of amphibians all over the world. As part of that effort, Costa Rican amphibian experts, the IUCN SSC Amphibian Red List Authority and Amphibian Ark collaborated in Costa Rica in September to assess the status of amphibians there.

Costa Rica is home to a reported 215 amphibian species. Of these, experts found about 30 percent to be threatened. Species of “Least Concern” increased to 134—from 100 in 2004—while “Extinct” species increased from two to three.

With data gathered by herpetologists, Amphibian Ark identified conservation strategies appropriate to each species through an analysis known as a “Conservation Needs Assessment.” The evaluation suggest the following:

  • Conservation in the wild for 80 species
  • Conservation in captivity for 8 species
  • Rescue for 6 species
  • Mass reproduction for 2 species
  • Public education for 6 species

Through their work, experts were able to identify 12 Alliance for Zero Extinction sites for amphibians in Costa Rica. Four new sites in Costa Rica will be also proposed. These sites are irreplaceable, discrete and contain the entire population of one or more species listed as “Endangered” or “Critically Endangered” by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Governments and organizations increasingly protect these sites, and financial institutions use them to screen investments for potential biodiversity impacts.

The University of Costa Rica School of Biology and CPSG Mesoamerica have worked together in the last 16 years to use the IUCN Red List guidelines to better understand the status of amphibians in Costa Rica, increasing the robustness of conservation status assessments over time.

The September workshop is part of the Second Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA2), coordinated by the IUCN SSC Amphibian Red List Authority, and done in collaboration with AArk, Fundación Pro Zoológicos (FUNDAZOO), the University of Costa Rica School of Biology and CPSG Mesoamerica. After review by the IUCN Red List and AArk, CPSG will share a more detailed report of the results.

Brian Gratwicke [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]