Global Amphibian Decline: Diversity, Threats and Management Strategies

Amphibians are small cold blooded tetra pods containing frogs, toads, caecilians and salamanders. There are over 8,500 species of amphibians known all over the world and nearly 447 species from India inhabiting water habitats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of threatened species estimates that at least one-third of known amphibian species are threatened with extinction, a rate much higher than that for other vertebrate groups like birds and mammals. Amphibian population decline represent a leading example of biodiversity crisis as they are continuously disappearing from their habitats on a global scale. Factors responsible for the amphibian decline are numerous and complex likes habitat destruction, alien species invasive, over exploitation, climate change, infectious diseases and chemical contamination. Amphibians are the crucial component of the ecosystem so their conservation becomes the need of hour. The conservation priority should include the population monitoring and environment sensing, reservation of wetlands, reservoirs, ponds, habitat restoration and management, minimizing the use of pesticides, captive breeding program for endangered species and also awareness among local people about the importance of frogs and toads.