Do you have successful documented experiences in which (national, regional or local) amphibian conservation action plans have been implemented in the field or derived in public policy?
Nicolas, I don't know if this will help, but you should perhaps read Edgar and Griffiths (An evaluation of the effectiveness of great crested newt Triturus cristatus mitigation projects in England, 1990 – 2001) :
http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/133004
or Langton:
http://herpecology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/GCN-PONDS-FINAL1.pdf
Those two references only deal with the newt Triturus cristatus in UK.
Christophe
Sticking with Triturus cristatus:
http://www.snhconferencesandevents.org/presentations/presentation-downloads-day-2.html
We're currently working on targeted pond creation based on our knowledge of population genetics and historical sites.
This is a relevant question. One has to be careful with official reports, because all too often apparent success is trumpeted high enough so that real failure becomes less obvious. Consider the Mallorcan midwife toad or ferreret, Alytes (Baleaphryne) muletensis. In recent years it has been downgraded to Vulnerable, when in fact it has never been so critically imperiled. Largely by misguided management and translocations. But is so much cooler to get recognition for officially recognized success...
Yes, definitely. The Kroombit Tinker Frog from Kroombit Tops (SE Queensland, Australia) had a action plan derived from field survey results. Implementation of the plan involved fencing around the area where the frogs were known to occur, a large extension to the adjacent National Park to include the frog habitat, a modestly successful program to control feral cattle and manage fires in the area, a control program for feral pigs, and most importantly a survey and monitoring programme that discovered several new populations in an unexpected habitat type. The frog remains critically endangered, there are few populations, none larger than a few calling males, and the extent of occurrence is tiny - nonetheless, despite extirpation of the original population the frog survives and the surrounding habitat is much better managed for other species.
...some links (including references to early results from the action plan).
http://www.edgeofexistence.org/amphibians/species_info.php?id=566
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1889
I think there are similar results published for other rainforest frogs from Queensland (possibly also for the Corroboree Frog from the Australian "Alps"). In each case though the long-term success remains equivocal and the best hope is for intrinsic evolution of resistance to chytrid infection - which seems to be happening for some species (such as the Waterfall Frog, Litoria nannotis).
The Endangered Wildlife Trusts (EWT) work in South Africa on Hyperolius pickersgilli and Vandjikophrynus amatolicus. Jeanne Tarrant heads up the research and there are a variety of updates and published papers available. The region where Vandjikophrynus amatolicus occurs is heavily forested for timber by a company called SAPPI, however they are relatively actively involved with assisting with conservation efforts of this critically endangered species which was only recently 're-discovered' after many years (of surveys).
We have action statements and recovery plans for many frog species in australia. They are supposed to direct government action. Government however is often reluctant to act so they are variously successful. But the idea is well practiced and there are many sucesses where species currently evade extinction due to recommendations being formed and followed. Expecting the ultimate result to be downgrading the species listing may be unrealistic for quite some time given the threats, but actions have led to research results that have informed management, others that have secured robust long term ex-situ populations and others leading to sucessful (at the moment) reintroductions. Positive actions are measured as those that slow the rate of decline that would otherwise have been experienced in the absence of action. Taking all action in a reserach based manner is critical in understanding the effect of (opositive or negative) of the action. It is only through this adaptive process that actions (and decline trajectories) are improved - so plans must be fluid and adaptive.
Thanks a lot for all your experiences. This book could be useful too:
www.conservationevidence.com/synopsis/download/13
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