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Priority areas for amphibian conservation in a neotropical megadiverse country: the need for alternative, non place based, conservation

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Abstract

Amphibians constitute one of the most threatened species group worldwide. Because they are affected by various threats such as habitat destruction, chytrid fungus, climate change, invasive species and human use, different approaches are needed for their conservation. In this paper we examine patterns of alpha diversity, endemism and threatened species distributions of amphibians in Bolivia. We modeled distribution data using ecological niche modeling implemented with MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy Modeling). In contrast with previous studies, we validated each individual map with specialists. Important areas for amphibian conservation were defined by overlapping species richness, endemism richness and concentration of threatened species, and then excluding all unsuitable habitats. Our goal was to identify high-priority sites for the conservation of amphibians in Bolivia. We discuss a place-based strategy (identification of priority areas) and the need for further non place-based strategies. We highlight the importance of strengthening two existing protected areas that together host up to 40% of Bolivia’s threatened amphibian species, and we propose alternative strategies such as ex situ conservation for those species not covered by the priority areas. Bolivia’s General Directorate for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (in Spanish, Dirección General de Biodiversidad y Áreas Protegidas (DGBAP)) and Bolivian experts are jointly using the here presented results to define a national strategy of amphibian conservation for safeguarding this important element of Bolivia’s biodiversity.

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Abbreviations

AUC:

Area under curve

CES:

Complexes of ecological systems

DEM:

Digital elevation model

DGBAP:

General Directorate for Biodiversity and Protected Areas

DP:

Departmental Park

GARP:

Genetic Algorithm for Rule Set Production

IUCN:

International Union for Conservation of Nature

NP:

National Park

ROC:

Receiver operating characteristic

SCH:

Status of conservation of habitat

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported by funds provided by The Embassy of Netherlands to the Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN, Project: Identifying centers of species richness, rarity and endemism of Bolivia). JM Padial was funded by the EU Marie Curie Mobility and Training Program (FP7, proposal 220714). We thank Humberto Gomez, Denisse Quiroga and Boris Rios for their valuable comments and technical assistance during the whole project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Nature Conservancy, Buntspechtweg 49, 53123, Bonn, Germany

    Dirk Embert

  2. The Nature Conservancy, La Paz, Bolivia, Buntspechtweg 49, 53123, Bonn, Germany

    Steffen Reichle

  3. Departamento de Ciencias, Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

    Daniel M. Larrea-Alcázar & Patricia Caballero

  4. University Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia

    Claudia Cortez & Enrique Domic

  5. Natural History Museum Alcide D’Orbignyi, Cochabamba, Bolivia

    Arturo Muñoz

  6. Natural History Museum Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

    Lucindo Gonzales, Rossy Montaño & Mayra Maldonado

  7. Center for Biodiversity and Genetics, Cochabamba, Bolivia

    Rodrigo Aguayo

  8. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    José M. Padial

  9. Center for Investigation Pando, Cobija, Bolivia

    Marcelo Guerrero

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  1. Dirk Embert
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  2. Steffen Reichle
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  3. Daniel M. Larrea-Alcázar
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  6. Lucindo Gonzales
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  8. Rodrigo Aguayo
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  10. José M. Padial
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  12. Patricia Caballero
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  13. Marcelo Guerrero
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Correspondence to Dirk Embert.

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Embert, D., Reichle, S., Larrea-Alcázar, D.M. et al. Priority areas for amphibian conservation in a neotropical megadiverse country: the need for alternative, non place based, conservation. Biodivers Conserv 20, 1557–1570 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0045-9

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