Assessing the global zoo response to the amphibian crisis through 20-year trends in captive collections

Global amphibian declines are one of the biggest challenges currently facing the conservation

community, and captive breeding is one way to address this crisis. Using information from the International

Species Information System zoo network, we examined trends in global zoo amphibian holdings across

species, zoo region, and species geographical region of origin from 1994 to 2014. These trends were compared

before and after the 2004 Global Amphibian Assessment to assess whether any changes occurred and whether

zoo amphibian conservation effort had increased. The numbers of globally threatened species (GTS) and

their proportional representation in global zoo holdings increased and this rate of increase was significantly

greater after 2004. North American, European, and Oceanian GTS were best represented in zoos globally, and

proportions of Oceanian GTS held increased the most since 2004. South American and Asian GTS had the

lowest proportional representation in zoos. At a regional zoo level, European zoos held the lowest proportions

of GTS, and this proportion did not increase after 2004. Since 1994, the number of species held in viable

populations has increased, and these species are distributed among more institutions. However, as of 2014,

zoos held 6.2% of globally threatened amphibians, a much smaller figure than for other vertebrate groups and

one that falls considerably short of the number of species for which ex situ management may be desirable.

Although the increased effort zoos have put into amphibian conservation over the past 20 years is encouraging,

more focus is needed on ex situ conservation priority species. This includes building expertise and capacity

in countries that hold them and tracking existing conservation efforts if the evidence-based approach to

amphibian conservation planning at a global level is to be further developed.