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Zoo Assists Ark Project As Haven for Amphibians

Posted on: Monday, 5 March 2007, 06:00 CST

By Bill Graham

A worldwide "Amphibian Ark" designed to save frogs and salamanders from extinction will make Missouri and Kansas a port of call.

Scientists recently gathered in Atlanta to organize safe havens at zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens for species in perilous decline.

The Kansas City Zoo plans to help.

"What's depressing about amphibians is that this is a worldwide trend," said Jeff Briggler, a herpetologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "One third of them are declining."

Amphibian declines signal environmental threats because they are sensitive to chemicals and habitat changes in wetlands, woodlands and prairies.

But scientists are especially worried about chytrid fungus, a disease killing many amphibians around the world.

Chytrid fungus may be spread by humans moving amphibians for research, pets or fish bait. It's found in Missouri on hellbenders, an endangered salamander in the Ozarks.

Amphibian Ark aims to establish captive breeding programs to help vulnerable species survive such threats.

"We're planning to help, although we're just now getting our frogs in a row," said Liz Harmon, general curator for the Kansas City Zoo.

The zoo hopes to keep two species including crawfish frogs, a local prairie dweller listed in Missouri as vulnerable to becoming threatened or endangered.

Crawfish frog declines are tied to native prairie destruction. The frogs live in crayfish or mice burrows.

"The hope is that this would be a short-term holding place until there's a place for these amphibians to go into the wild," Harmon said.

The hellbender -- at up to 2 feet long North America's largest salamander -- already is being propagated by the St. Louis Zoo and a federal fish hatchery, Briggler said. It is not in Amphibian Ark, but the premise is the same.

Scientists are studying why Missouri hellbenders dropped from a population of 15,000 in several streams to only 1,000. Dams, erosion sediment, stream bottom disturbance and pollution are possible reasons. Nonnative rainbow trout stocked for fishing may also be eating the larval young.

In Kansas, green toads of the arid western plains are a threatened candidate for zoo care, said Joseph T. Collins, a herpetologist at the University of Kansas. Habitat loss and drought are factors. Cricket frogs also are declining, but that could be caused by dry weather.

Collins said pollution and habitat damage weaken amphibians, making them more susceptible to diseases such as chytrid fungus.

"I'm not sure whether anybody has a handle on the problem," he said. "Are all the frogs in trouble? We don't know."

To reach Bill Graham, call (816) 234-5906 or send e-mail to bgraham@kcstar.com.

Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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