Amphibian Conservation Global evidence for the effects of interventions [Hardcover]

The book begins with six pages briefly describing the methods the authors used to identify and locate published studies, and to systematically quantify their results. The authors summarize evidence for nine threats (Residential and Commercial Development, Agriculture, Energy Production and Mining, Transportation and Service Corridors, Human Disturbances, Habitat Modification, Invasive Species, Pollution, and Climate Change) and four solutions (Habitat Protection, Habitat Restoration, Species Management, and Education and Outreach). All topics are focused on practical hands-on actions; the book does not reference any modeling studies, does not address policy efforts, and does not discuss ethical considerations. The book would have benefitted from a summary chapter that gave an overview of success for each topic and taxonomic group. Skimming through the extensive examples, I concluded that we have had inconsistent results in our interventions to conserve amphibians, despite varied approaches in numerous systems. It was sobering to realize that even habitat protection efforts???considered as close to a sure thing as we get in conservation???are often not assessed, and are only partially successful.

To demonstrate how the book is organized, I summarize the chytridiomycosis abatement strategies, listed under the Invasive Species section. This section included eleven actions that attempted to reduce chytridiomycosis: two reducing geographic spread, three reducing amount of Bd in the environment, and six reducing infection load on amphibians. The authors provided (a) a short overview, (b) a statement of reported successes, (c) a brief background summary, (d) a few pages of text describing each article's findings, and (e) references. It would have been nice if the authors included some sort of gap analysis identifying actions that have not been tested. I thought readers would have benefited if the authors provided details on the original causes oflsA