Library:State of the World’s Amphibians - The Second Global Amphibian Assessment (report)
State of the World’s Amphibians - The Second Global Amphibian Assessment is a report written by Re:wild, Synchronicity Earth, and the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group in 2023. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the status of amphibians worldwide, detailing their diversity, threats, and conservation efforts. It is the second Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA2), providing an extensive evaluation of the extinction risk of amphibians worldwide.
Key points
- Amphibian Diversity: It highlights the remarkable diversity of amphibians, including their distribution across various biogeographic realms and the ongoing efforts to describe new species.
- Conservation Status: The assessment reveals that 41% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, with habitat loss being the most common threat.
- Conservation Needs: The report emphasizes the urgent need for scaled-up conservation efforts to prevent further declines and extinctions of amphibian species.
- Amphibian Research: A surge in amphibian research has led to the discovery of many new species, although many are known from only a few specimens and are often classified as Data Deficient.
- Threats to Amphibians: Habitat loss, climate change, disease, and other human activities are driving amphibians towards extinction. The Green Redbelly Toad, for example, is endangered due to habitat destruction caused by urbanization, agriculture, and pollution.
- Disease Impact: Diseases like chytridiomycosis, caused by the chytrid fungus, have been linked to declines and extinctions of amphibian populations worldwide.
- Climate Change Effects: Climate change poses a serious threat to amphibians, with changes in temperature and humidity expected to worsen in the future, impacting their survival.
- Threats to Amphibians: The Green Redbelly Toad, endemic to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, is endangered due to habitat loss from urban growth, agriculture, and pollution.
- Amphibian Declines: The IUCN Red List shows human activities like habitat conversion, climate change, and disease are driving amphibians towards extinction.
- Disease Impact: Chytridiomycosis, caused by the chytrid fungus, is linked to declines and suspected in 9 of 11 extinctions since the 1980s.
- Climate Change: Predicted changes in temperature and humidity due to climate change are expected to worsen threats to amphibians.
- Threatened Amphibian Species: Lists various amphibian species with the percentage threatened, such as Hynobius (75%) and Eleutherodactylus (75%).
- Geographical Distribution: Details the specific regions where these species are found, including the Andes, Taiwan, Japan, and Madagascar.
- Conservation Status: Highlights the critical conservation status of these species, with many facing high levels of threat in their natural habitats.