FrogLog 103 PDF here - Amphibian Specialist Group

ASG/ARMI Seed Grant Award 2012
Call for applications:
The Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative
Seed Grant Awards Apply Now! www.amphibians.org
We are pleased to announce a new round of ASG/
ARMI Seed Grants. ARMI Seed Grants are intended
as one-time awards of between $500 and
$2000 for the support or initiation of research that furthers
the Amphibian Specialists Group’s mission to conserve
biological diversity by stimulating, developing and executing
practical programs to conserve amphibians around the
world, in addition to determining the nature, extent and
causes of amphibian population declines.
To apply for an award your proposed work must be undertaken
on amphibian species or issue(s) of concern in
the USA. The US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Amphibian
Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is particularly
interested in funding research on potential stressors of amphibian
populations. Applicants interested in applying for a
seed grant should download and submit an application form
by August 31st, 2012 from the ASG web site www.amphibians.org.
Successful candidates will be notified by September
30th, 2012. Do not hesitate to contact Robin Moore if you
need clarification or advice. For more information on ARMI
please visit http://armi.usgs.gov/.
Historical disease prevalence, and current survival rates of a
threatened amphibian (Anaxyrus canorus) with respect to chytrid
infection intensity – team project awarded in 2011.
The ASG/ARMI Seed Grant is managed by the Amphibian
and Reptile Conservancy, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization whose mission to assist in and develop amphibian
and reptile conservation projects and partner efforts that
support the mission and goals of Partners in Amphibian and
Reptile Conservation (PARC).
Lost Frogs Update
Thank you to all those who applied for the Lost Frogs internship
advertised in the last edition of FrogLog. We are currently
in discussion with the last few applicants and hope to
shortly announce who will be helping to develop this initiative into
an even more successful project for amphibian
conservation. In the meantime we are
happy to report that there have been a number
of rediscoveries recently published from
across the world bring the total found to 30
with 219 still lost. As always this list is very
much open for debate and we welcome your
thoughts and contributions. Please take a
look at the list which can be found online
and if you know of any updates that need to
be made just let us know.
Since May we have learnt about four rediscoveries.
The first, and arguably most incredible,
is the Adenomus kandianus from
Sri Lanka which was last observed in 1879.
This amazing rediscovery was made by
Mendis Wickramasinghe and team during
a 2009 field season. Other individuals have
been located within the area of the rediscovery,
an area officially protected on account
of its religious significance, however habitat
Adenomus kandianus. Photo: L. J. M. Wickramasinghe.
degradation is occurring at high levels due to uncontrolled use of
the site by pilgrims. In order to ensure the long term survival of the
species this threat needs to be immediately addressed. The species
was listed as Extinct on the Red List, however thanks to funding
and a quick assessment by the Amphibian
Red List Authority, the species will shortly
be down listed.
Isthmohyla tica, Isthmohyla debilis and
Isthmohyla graceae were reported as rediscovered
in a recent paper (1). The area
where the species have been found is currently
not under immediate threat from
habitat loss as it is part of local/indigenous
community land and current land use is extensive
agriculture by smallholders. However,
the whole area is largely unprotected
and the potential for future mining on Cerro
Colorado means that these sites need to
be monitored closely and plans developed
that can be implemented quickly if a threat
is identified.
References
1. A. Hertz et al., Amphib. Reptile Conserv. 6,
9(e46) (2012).
FrogLog 20 (4) | Issue number 103 (July 2012) | 5