Brazil is the country with the largest number of amphibian species in the world — a group of animals that includes toads, frogs, tree frogs, salamanders, among others. They are almost 1,200 species described, and unfortunately many of them are threatened with extinction.
Given this scenario, Two projects have been created to save what may be the rarest amphibians in the world: the Spotted Treefrog Conservation Project and the Ruffed Treefrog Conservation Project.
These projects breed highly endangered species in artificial environments to increase their population. You will learn about these innovative projects that should serve as an example for future conservation actions in Brazil and the rest of the world.
The origin of the projects
Given the imminent extinction of many amphibian species, the Brazilian Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG Brasil-IUCN) began to devise effective strategies to save these animals. In 2020, ASG Brasil, together with the international organization Amphibian Arkand with the support of National Center for Research and Conservation of Reptiles and Amphibians (RAN-ICMBio)carried out the “Conservation Needs Assessments”, an event in which experts evaluated 67 species of threatened Brazilian amphibians. Of these, 14 species were considered to be at greater risk of extinction and required more urgent action.
Then, the elaboration of specific conservation plans began, called Amphibian Conservation Strategic Plans (PECAn). “The goal is that for each species identified as ‘high priority’ a PECAn will be drawn up, which must be developed with all actors who, in some way, are involved with the species in question”, as described in Perereca’s PECAn- painted.
Of the 14 species, two already have conservation plans underway: the Spotted Treefrog (Nyctimantis pomba), from Minas Gerais, and the Rústica Treefrog (Pithecopus rusticus), from Santa Catarina. The preparation of the PECAn for these two species was carried out through seven remote meetings during the year 2022, which included the participation of 44 people from different institutions, including universities, zoos, associations, municipal, state, governmental and non-governmental bodies. governmental.
These two species were chosen to start, as both were already being researched for this purpose and their risk of extinction was very high. Furthermore, the two species had more factors in common:
These species present similar scenarios, both in relation to micro-endemism and the threats they face. Therefore, the elaboration of their plans were carried out at the same time, since the experience with one could serve as a model for the other.
PECAn of the Spotted Treefrog (Nyctimantis pomba)
Both strategic plans foresee performance from 2023 to 2028. Both also include shares “in situ” (in places where species occur in nature)as well as rescue and management actions “ex-situ” (in laboratory and artificial environments).
The aim of the programs is to develop a protocol for the maintenance and reproduction of species under human care and to form safety populations in case there is a need for supplementation in the wild. In other words, if something happens to the few individuals that remain in nature, populations created in artificial environments will prevent the species from becoming extinct.
Second Cybele Sabino Lisboacoordinating biologist of the Herpetofauna Sector at the São Paulo Zoo, a very successful ex situ project, previously carried out with the Giant Tree Frog (Ololygon alcatraz), served as an example for the development of these new projects that are now in force.
Spotted Treefrog Conservation Project
Biologist Clodoaldo Lopes de Assis was the first person to find a Spotted Treefrog in the wild, in 2008.and realized that it was a species that had not yet been described by science. “I was surprised because I thought ‘how had a large and strikingly beautiful amphibian not been found before?’ From then on, I started searching for specimens to describe it, but this amphibian was rare and five years passed before its description,” he says.
During this period, the animal’s area of occurrence was largely impacted by human actions. To this day, The Spotted Treefrog was only found in a fragment of Atlantic Forest on a private property measuring approximately 1.36 km² in the rural area of the municipality of Cataguases (MG). Between 2016 and 2021, searches for the species were carried out in other locations, but without success.
In 2017, a specialist from Clodoaldo asked for new data to indicate the tree frog as a candidate for ex situ management.
My efforts paid off, because N. dove was chosen! But a program of this level seemed distant, as here, ex situ management with amphibians is as rare as N. dove itself.
Clodoaldo Lopes de Assis
The following year, researchers Cauê Monticelli and Cybele Lisboa teamed up with Clodoaldo to search for specimens of the tree frog in the wild for breeding in captivity. Thus was born the “embryo” of what would become the species’ strategic plan, which, after being written, began to have three specific objectives:
- Reduce knowledge gaps about the species and its habitat;
- Identify, characterize and reduce direct threats to the species and its habitat;
- Establish communication and awareness strategies for the conservation of the species.
The ex situ conservation program is the result of a partnership between researchers and technicians from the Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo. The laboratory for managing the Spotted Treefrog was set up at the Center for the Conservation of Wild Fauna of the State of São Paulo (CECFAU), located in Araçoiaba da Serra (SP), under the direction of Cauê Monticelli and management by Giannina Piatto.
According to Giannina, in the first expeditions by the CECFAU team to Cataguases to collect animals for reproduction, in 2019 and 2020, there was difficulty finding female animals. When females were found, in 2021, ex situ management began. Initially, only 12 animals were found and taken to the management site.
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Spotted tree frog photographed at CECFAU, in Araçoiaba da Serra (SP) • Guilherme Machado
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In the hands of science: the project could be responsible for saving the species from extinction • Guilherme Machado
At the end of 2022, Cecfau researchers managed to reproduce the Spotted Treefrog in captivity for the first time. As the initiatives put into practice with the species were already occurring successfully, hers was one of the first to get off the ground.
Today, at the end of 2024, there is already an established security population in Cecfau, with 260 individuals of the tree frog. Animals were also sent to be kept in and on .
In 2023, we allocated 30 individuals born here to the São Paulo Zoo and had more reproductions. In 2024, we will allocate ten individuals born here to the Butantan Institute and we are waiting for new reproductions.
Giannina Piatto, Cecfau manager
In addition, actions are being carried out to raise awareness about the conservation of the species. One of them is the dissemination, through an official Instagram profile (@conservacaonyctimantispomba), of information about the project and progress in tree frog conservation.
In parallel, research into the behavior and reproduction of the species is being carried out in the species’ habitat, in Cataguases. In an interview, biologist Clodoaldo stated that researchers are welcome in the animal’s habitat but that the area is in a delicate legal situation, which makes it difficult to create a reserve to protect it. Also according to him, the presence of its team of researchers inhibits loggers and hunters who previously invaded the area. Because of this, he and the other researchers try to visit the place frequently.
Rustic Treefrog Conservation Project
“It was on a summer night, in 2008, that, walking through the fields of the Planalto das Araucárias, from marsh to marsh watching frogs, I came across a small green tree frog, with colorful legs and a shy croak”, this is how Elaine Lucasbiologist and professor at the Department of Animal Husbandry and Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), described her first contact with what would later be described as a new species of tree frog, the Rustic Treefrog (Pithecopus rusticus).
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Field expedition of the project team • Elaine Lucas
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Wood frog sheltering in bromeliad • Elaine Lucas
The description of the new species was only published in 2014, but since 2009 Elaine, together with professional colleagues, began to visit the area annually to monitor the population of the type locality (where the animal was first described) and search for new populations. However, Something similar happens here to what happens in the case of the Spotted Treefrog: to date, the Rústica Treefrog has only been found in a small fragment of high-altitude field (part of the Atlantic Forest biome), in the municipality of Água Doce (SC) and searches for the species in other areas were unsuccessful.
The Rústica Treefrog ex situ Conservation Program is based in Bird Park, in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná. The team is coordinated by biologist Benjamin Phalan and veterinarian Paloma Bosso, with support from Cybele Lisboa, from the São Paulo Zoo.
One of our objectives at ASG Brasil is to identify potential hosts of ex situ projects with amphibians. At the time, when Elaine approached me, I suggested Parque das Aves to conduct this project. They had no experience with amphibians, but with birds. They agreed to join the project because my team would provide the necessary technical support. That’s when this partnership between Parque das Aves and the São Paulo Zoo emerged.
Cybele Sabino Lisboa, coordinator of the Herpetofauna Sector at the São Paulo Zoo
The operation that took the first pair of Treefrogs to Parque das Aves was worthy of a Hollywood film: a single pair was found and was taken in an ICMBio helicopter to the Park. Elaine Lucas, who participated in the operation, stated in an interview that the decision to air transport was made due to the distance that would be covered and the emergency nature of the species.
Later, another pair and eggs found in the wild were taken overland to Parque das Aves. These spawns hatched there and the animals are being raised there. However, unfortunately, reproduction of these animals in the artificial environment has not yet occurred.. Elaine claims that the main suspicion for this is the difficulty of reproducing the climatic conditions of this tree frog’s habitat in the laboratory.
As in the case of the Spotted Treefrog, The Perereca-rústica project also has an Instagram profile to share information about it with society. As described in the species’ strategic conservation plan: “the @projetopererecarustica page on Instagram was created in order to share and strengthen communication with society, disseminating information about the species and the importance of conserving the Campos de Altitude, especially the humid areas ”.
The area where the species occurs, as well as the Spotted Treefrog, is also in a complex legal situation. The presence of cattle in the area is also a threat to the amphibian, according to Elaine, as these large animals trample the delicate habitat of the high-altitude fields. Even the teams that go to the habitat on research expeditions are reduced, to avoid affecting it, said the biologist. However, she highlights the importance of taking, even at different times, as many researchers involved in the project as possible to learn about the species’ natural habitat..
Like Cybele, Elaine is optimistic about the future. At the end of , the researcher hopes to reduce the level of threat of extinction of the species to a less worrying level.
