A functional perspective for global amphibian conservation

BOLOCHIO, BRUNA E.; LESCANO, JULIÁN N.; CORDIER, JAVIER MAXIMILIANO; LOYOLA, RAFAEL; NORI, JAVIER

BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Año: 2020 vol. 245

0006-3207

In anurans, habitat requirements strongly influence morphological evolution, resulting in ecomorphologicalgroups. Current policy for amphibian conservation usually builds on species, without considering to the distinctvulnerability among ecomorphs. With nearly 40% of the amphibian species currently threatened with extinction,different conservation perspectives are essential to protect them. Here, we provide a global overview and futureforecast of the threat level imposed on amphibian microhabitat-related ecomorphs. We analyzed the patterns ofdistribution of seven ecomorphs totaling 3138 species (aquatic, semi-aquatic, arboreal, semi-arboreal, burrowing, terrestrial, and torrential), related these patterns with current and likely future human-dominatedlandscapes, and estimated the overlap of ecomorph distribution with existing protected areas (PAs). Our resultsevidence key regions for amphibian conservation under the ecomorphological perspective. In these key regions,coexist more than a half of the world´s ecomorphs, some of them in imperiled regions such as the BrazilianAtlantic Forest. Our results also showed that current PAs are inefficient to represent all amphibian life forms. Infact, 53% of the species have less than 1% of their distribution occurring inside PAs. This picture seems to bealarming to the most restricted and endemic ecomorph (Torrential species), which are limited to areas whereincreasing human-driven land transformation are expected. Considering these results, the future of some amphibian life forms may be uncertain unless urgent conservation actions are taken, such as the establishment ofnew conservation areas that encompasses all levels of amphibian diversity