Open AccessOn the Data Deficient amphibians occurring in Colombia
Author(s) -
Cristian RománPalacios,
Alejandro Valencia-Zuleta
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
revista de biología tropical
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.305
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 2215-2075
pISSN - 0034-7744
DOI - 10.15517/rbt.v66i3.30818
Subject(s) - iucn red list , data deficient , amphibian , range (aeronautics) , ecology , geography , extinction (optical mineralogy) , conservation status , species richness , distribution (mathematics) , species distribution , vulnerable species , biology , endangered species , habitat , paleontology , mathematical analysis , materials science , mathematics , composite material
Whereas more than 10 % of the global amphibian richness is known to occur in Colombia, almost 16 % of these species are currently classified as Data Deficient according to the IUCN. These estimates suggest that the available data for a large portion of the amphibians occurring in Colombia is insufficient to assess extinction risk. Here we aim to (1) review the available information on the distribution of the Colombian Data Deficient (DD hereafter) amphibians, (2) analyze their geographic distribution, and (3) evaluate the relationship between anthropogenic impact and their current conservation status. For this, we first compiled geographical records for the DD amphibian species using primary sources. Geographical records were obtained mainly from taxonomic descriptions and non-systematic surveys. We then estimated the geographical range and inferred the potential distribution for each species using LetsR and MaxEnt, respectively. We quantified the human footprint for each species and tested the relationship between spatial distribution and anthropogenic change across populations. Analyses are here based on 128 of the 129 amphibians that occur in Colombia and are currently listed as DD. We found that most of these species were recently described and have small geographic ranges. A large proportion of these DD amphibians inhabit the Colombian Andes, and their populations have been strongly affected by human activities. Overall, the spatial clustering suggests that many of these species have faced similar environmental and anthropogenic pressures that have contributed to their rareness. We also suggest that the conservation status of several of the analyzed DD amphibians should be changed to account for the threats they face.