RCN: Coordinated Research on Amphibian Population Declines in the Neotropics

Natureserve, Arlington VA

Investigators

Abstract

Recent research has documented dramatic population declines and extinctions of frogs, toads, and salamanders in many parts of the New World tropics, a pattern seen in North America and elsewhere in the world. We propose the formation of RANA, the Research and Analysis network for Neotropical Amphibians, to coordinate scientists from a variety of institutions examining this issue. The goal is to promote collaborative research that takes advantage of the tremendous habitat and taxonomic diversity of the New World tropics. Members of RANA will collect data to test leading hypotheses for population declines, including disease, climate change, and UV-B radiation. Reports of extinctions, deformities, and population declines of amphibians frequently appear in the popular media, and represent a modern day mystery to scientists. The global nature of this biodiversity crisis means that we have to look outside of our borders to provide insights on why large numbers of frogs are disappearing in many regions of the US, including Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains. This project will produce a bilingual Spanish-English publicly-available website with information on amphibian declines and a database with information on the status of all species of the New World tropics.