21/11/2025
New lab paper, in Nature Reviews Biodiversity! "Conservation priorities for global amphibian biodiversity".
The review reveals that from 1980 to 2022, conservation status worsened for more than twice as many species than those for which it improved. The biggest killers? Relentless habitat destruction, accelerating climate change, and deadly emerging diseases. Many threats now synergise in destructive ways, pushing even once-common species toward collapse.
Yet the report also delivers a crucial message: when we act, amphibians can recover. Targeted habitat protection, smarter management, and evidence-based action plans have already pulled a handful of species back from the brink.
But progress is far too slow. Amphibians make up a quarter of all threatened vertebrates, yet receive just 3.4% of conservation funding.
“Every vanished frog or salamander is a warning signal,” the authors stress. “We still have time—but not much.”
The review calls for bold global cooperation under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, rapid investment in conservation, and innovative solutions to combat disease and climate impacts.
The message is clear: the world’s amphibians can survive the 21st century—but only if we choose to save them.
A new global review synthesises conservation status assessments and decades of amphibian conservation research to reveal the latest trends in conservation status and outline priority actions for th…
