Admirable Redbelly Toad Conservation

Blueprint

ASSESS

The Admirable Redbelly Toad is a microendemic species known only from a single population in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In 2008, this species was assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, as almost nothing was known about the natural history of this recently described species and its conservation needs. In August 2010, a local governing agency granted a preliminary permit for the construction of a small hydropower plant (SHP) in the Forqueta River in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The site was less than 300 metres from the single location where the Admirable Redbelly Toad occurs. The environmental study that underpinned the request for the permit recorded the species in the SHP's area of influence and indicated the potential risks of its installation.

PLAN

Convinced that the SHP would pose a significant threat to the species, a multi-institutional team worked together to prevent its installation. The first step was to plan actions to safeguard the species’ survival. Hence, researchers at the Rio Grande do Sul Federal University, and conservationists at the Instituto Curicaca, began working with the National Center for Research and Conservation of Reptiles and Amphibians of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment (RAN/ICMBio) to arrange the inclusion of the Admirable Redbelly Toad in the Brazilian National Action Plan for the Conservation of Endangered Reptiles and Amphibians of the Southern Region. The Plan was published in 2012 and the actions proposed included scientific research, searching for new areas of occurrence, and potentially creating a protected area encompassing the species’ range.

ACT

In accordance with the plan, researchers initiated a series of applied studies to evaluate potential threats to the species, gather data needed to assess its conservation status (e.g., natural history, genetics, ecology, estimation of population size, risk analysis), and search for other populations in nearby areas. The team decided to embrace technology innovative at the time that uses less invasive techniques. To study their population ecology, Admirable Redbelly Toads were “marked and recaptured” by using photo-identification, since the unique coloration pattern of each individual is easily distinguished by computer software. To study their diet, they used flushing techniques to obtain the stomach content of living animals, and buccal swabs were used to conduct genetic analysis. Although no new populations have been found, with the information collected in the field the team was able to generate a revision to the extinction risk assessment, together with the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group and the RAN/ICMBio.

In addition to these scientific activities, the team also advocated in the political sphere against the construction of the SHP. Meetings and workshops were organised that included the scientific community, regional and national environmental agencies, local government attorneys, non-governmental organisations, and the agency that wanted to build the SHP.

Results

Following the IUCN Red List Criteria, the Admirable Redbelly Toad was assessed as Critically Endangered on the global list in 2013, and at the regional and national levels in 2014. During the meetings and workshops with key stakeholders, the potential threats to the species posed by the SHP installation became clear, as did the lack of mitigation strategies to reduce these negative impacts. As a direct consequence of the team’s efforts, the regional environmental agency decided against the SHP and denied the permit that would allow its construction in 2014. Later, restrictions were enacted on construction of all hydropower projects at the headwaters of the hydrographic sub-basin, that includes the Forqueta River. This was the first time in Brazilian history that the potential extinction risk to a Critically Endangered amphibian prevented the construction of a significant infrastructure project.