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Contacts:
American Bird Conservancy
202-234-7181 x207
International Media Manager
202-912-1214
US/Canada Media Manager
202-912-1411
Washington, D.C. (June 6, 2006) - The rediscovery
of two frog species feared extinct has made a new Colombian
protected area the focal point for efforts to save amphibians
from a deadly fungus decimating their populations in Central
and South America.
Scientists recently found the two Critically
Endangered frogs - the Santa Marta harlequin frog (Atelopus
laetissimus ) and the San Lorenzo harlequin frog (Atelopus
nahumae) - for the first time in 14 years in the El Dorado
Nature Reserve established in March on the northwest slope
of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta massif, on the Caribbean
coast of Colombia.
The reserve is an important home for threatened
species, and its protection was a top priority of the Alliance
for Zero Extinction - a 62-member group of conservation organizations
battling global extinctions. In March, alliance members Conservation
International (CI) and American Bird Conservancy (ABC) helped
Fundación ProAves of Colombia purchase the 1,600-acre
site to protect it as a nature reserve.
Neither of the rediscovered frog species
had the deadly fungal disease chytridiomycosis, raising hopes
that the species can be saved in the new protected area or
through captive breeding. The fungus has been found as close
as 40 kilometers (25 miles) away on the other side of the
Sierra Nevada mountains, and scientists will study the frogs
to learn how they have avoided it.
"It's a race against time to prevent
chytridiomycosis from wiping out amphibian populations, but
now we have discovered what appear to be healthy populations
of these endangered species," said Claude Gascon, CI's
senior vice president for regional programs. "Creating
the El Dorado Nature Reserve has
given Colombia and the world a unique jewel that will prevent
the extinction of threatened species of birds and frogs found
nowhere else on the planet."
El Dorado is the sole breeding ground of
the Endangered Santa Marta Parakeet,
and home to five threatened amphibians found nowhere else.
The site also is a vital stopover point for declining neotropical
migratory birds that breed in the United States and Canada,
such as the Cerulean and Golden-winged Warblers.
Fundación ProAves staff at the reserve
and Magdalena University researchers found the two rediscovered
frog species while conducting research funded by the Darwin
Initiative and the National Environmental Action Fund (FPAA).
"This rediscovery is a momentous leap
of hope for saving species across the Andes," said Alonso
Quevedo, the Fundación ProAves president and an active
herpetologist. "The extinction crisis is wiping out so
many important environmental indicator species, such as Atelopus
frogs, before our very eyes, so this is a real boost for conservation
efforts."
The Alliance for Zero Extinction (www.zeroextinction.org)
issued a report in December 2005 that pinpointed 595 sites
around the world containing the last significant habitat for
one or more endangered species of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian
and plant. It listed the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta site
as one of the most crucial to protect.
In late December, Fundación ProAves
learned of the impending sale of plots from the site for construction
of vacation homes. It alerted the Alliance for Zero Extinction,
and in less than a month, ABC and CI had secured the funding
necessary for Fundación ProAves to buy the entire site
that now comprises the El Dorado Nature Reserve. Additional
support for the reserve purchase was provided by more than
a dozen donors, including the Jeniam Foundation, and Lynn
and Stuart White.
"These rediscoveries are particularly
important as they represent species of frogs that are very
sensitive to the disease and which were thought to possibly
be extinct," said Paul Salaman of ABC. "Their rediscovery
shows that there is hope to find healthy populations and protect
them."
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the
highest coastal mountain range in the world, rising from the
shores of the Caribbean Sea to almost 19,000 feet. It contains
extraordinary numbers of species found nowhere else across
a multitude of isolated ecosystems. Protecting the new
El Dorado Nature Reserve prevents destruction of valuable
and rare biodiversity, and also ensures a clean water source
for coastal towns that depend on two watersheds that have
their sources at the site
Photos available upon request.
***END***
Conservation International (CI) applies
innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation
to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal
diversity in the biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity
wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems. With headquarters
in Washington, D.C., CI works in more than 40 countries on
four continents. For more information about CI, visit www.conservation.org.
American Bird Conservancy(ABC) is a 501(c)3
not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to conserve
native wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas.
It is the only U.S.-based, group dedicated solely to overcoming
the greatest threats facing birds in the Western Hemisphere.
ABC believes adequate resources exist to overcome these threats,
and that unifying people, organizations, and agencies around
common approaches to priority issues is the key to success.
For more information about ABC, visit: www.abcbirds.org.
Fundación ProAves is a leading national
conservation NGO in Colombia, whose mission is to protect
birds and their habitats, through targeted research, community
outreach and direct conservation at the planet's most important
biodiversity sites. With headquarters in Bogotá, ProAves
implements over 20 projects with 65 professional staff and
own and manage eight strategic nature reserves. For more information
about ProAves, visit: www.proaves.org
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