To conserve amphibians and reptiles, we must understand life histories; to plan for species and ecosystem recovery, we must know the reasons for decline and take a long term approach. SSAR strongly supports the conservation of amphibians and reptiles and their habitats. We also recognize that research is essential to this goal, and that research must be encouraged with as little hindrance as possible. Research must focus on causes and solutions, and conservation programs need to be on guard against “half-way” technologies that provide a false sense of accomplishment.
Amphibian Declines
Bufo alvarius: Sonoran Desert Toad. Adult from SE Arizona. Photo by Todd Pierson
Serious declines in amphibian populations have been documented in many areas around the world in the last 20 years, including North America, Central America, South America, Europe, and Australia.The declines are significant because they are occurring in some of the largest parks and wilderness areas. The causes include more familiar threats such as habitat loss and contamination, as well as previously unconsidered threats such as emerging infectious diseases. In North America, there have been significant declines in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains mountains involving at about ten native amphibian species. Many isolated frog populations in the desert Southwest have disappeared. Throughout the Great Lakes area, significant declines have occurred in addition to the appearance of severe deformities (e.g. extra or missing legs, missing or displaced eyes). In the southern US, several species on the Coastal Plain are in decline. Amphibians are suffering an onslaught of conservation threats that, cumulatively, make this group the most endangered group of vertebrates on Earth. Factors are now knows to include, in various regions, habitat alteration, pesticides/herbicides, introduction of non-native species (especially fish), disease, invasive species, and unsustainable commercial collecting.
Conserving Freshwater Turtles
Clemmys guttata, Spotted Turtle. Photo by Brad Wilson
Many freshwater turtles face serious threats to their survival. The large river-dwelling species, especially, have been heavily impacted. Freshwater turtles are relished as food, and a huge national and international commercial trade occurs in many parts of the world, including North America. Many species are sold for their organs and shell to be used in various cultural medicines, tonics, and elixirs, especially in Asia. A number of countries have lost a significant proportion of their freshwater turtle fauna to supply the medicinal export trade to China and elsewhere. A multi-million dollar pet trade drains wild populations of freshwater turtles and terrestrial box turtles. Turtle ranchers in the United States are one of the world’s main suppliers, replenishing their breeding stock from wild populations. Freshwater turtles are threatened by habitat alteration, elimination, and degradation, as well as through the unnatural overabundance of efficient nest predators, such as raccoons. Research suggests that the consequences of a reduction in population size are extremely serious for turtles. Their life history characteristics (e.g., long life, high adult survivorship, low recruitment) make it very difficult for them to recover from chronic stress.
Sea Turtle Conservation
Researchers dig up a nest of the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Sea turtle nests often succumb to predation in the wild, but when brought into caged areas, nest success climbs above 70%. Photo by Todd Pierson
All sea turtle species are threatened or endangered with extinction and protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act and a number of important international conservation treaties. Sea turtle populations have been reduced in size worldwide due to human interference at nesting beaches and in marine habitats. Specific threats to sea turtles include habitat alteration and destruction, marine pollution (especially by plastic debris), incidental capture by recreational and commercial fisheries, and direct take of turtles and their eggs for commercial and local use. Recovery efforts for sea turtle populations are focused primarily on determining the locations of critical habitats and reducing threats to adults and juveniles in these areas. Because sea turtles are highly migratory and travel through the national and international waters of many nations, conservation efforts must include the development of multilateral agreements to manage and protect them on a regional level.
Species At Risk in Deserts
Phrynosoma platyrhinos, Desert Horned Lizard, Maricopa County, Arizona. Photo by Brad Wilson
The conservation of desert herpetofauna is largely a matter of adequately controlling the multiple and often overlapping human activites that impact fragile desert habitats. These include urbanization, agriculture, livestock ranching, off-road vehicles, mining, oil and gas exploration, construction of solar and wind-driven power plants, energy transmission corridors, military training sites, and a complex array of highways. The net impact of these activities is difficult to measure, but the resulting fragmentation, degradation, and destruction of desert habitats decreases the abundance and diversity of the herpetofauna through time. A clear warning sign of our lack of stewardship is the current listing of several key desert herps as threatened or endangered (e.g., desert tortoise). Only through co-ordinated planning by federal, state, and local governments, environmental organizations, scientists, and a concerned public can we hope to succeed in conserving the remarkably diverse herpetofauna of our North American deserts.