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Ecology

A declining amphibian conundrum

Nature volume 394, pages 418–419 (1998)Cite this article

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Over the past decade there have been dramatic declines among some amphibian populations in many parts of the world, including a number of apparent species extinctions1. These events have caused particular concern because many have occurred in protected areas such as nature reserves and national parks2,3. Moreover, until recently they have been detected only after they have happened. The Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force — a worldwide network of scientists, of which I am an international director — has been investigating the declines since 1991, and we have reached several conclusions. First, amphibian declines are occurring throughout the world, although some regions are not affected. Second, at most affected sites some species are declining whereas others are not. Finally, there is no single cause for these declines.

This last point is now addressed by Berger et al.4, reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They have identified a pathogen that links declines among frog populations in two such geographically distinct parts of the world — Panama and Queensland, Australia. Population declines have been well documented at both of these localities5,6 and, in an exemplary example of international scientific collaboration, biologists from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have come together to examine the material collected from the two areas.

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  1. Department of Biology, The Open University, MK7 6AA, Milton Keynes, UK

    Tim Halliday

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  1. Tim Halliday
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Halliday, T. A declining amphibian conundrum. Nature 394, 418–419 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/28732

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