Abstract
The Trinidad stream frog Mannophryne trinitatis is a Trinidad endemic inhabiting small seasonal forest streams throughout the northern and central range hills. IUCN has assessed the species as Vulnerable, but the evidence for this remains anecdotal. We surveyed the northern range population at five sites over three consecutive years using visual encounter and audio surveys, also using removal sampling at two of the sites. We further tested for the presence of chytrid infection at six sites in one year. Removal sampling revealed densities of about 100 and 600 frogs per 100 m of stream, resulting in a conservative estimate of 3.5 million frogs in the northern Range when taking the total length of suitable streams into account. None of the 116 frogs were positive for chytrid, and no frog showed skin lesions or clinical signs of disease. Along with a lack of evidence for decline in the extent and quality of Trinidad stream frog habitat, we conclude that this species should no longer be regarded as under threat. Our results combined with previous work should provide a basis for future assessments of this species.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5-11 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Herpetological Journal |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Jan 2017 |
Funding
We thank the large number of trusts and other agencies that supported University of Glasgow expeditions to Trinidad 2012?14, especially the University of Glasgow?s Chancellor?s Fund and the Carnegie Trust. RS thanks The Explorers Club for supporting her chytrid work and Prof. Andrew Cunningham (Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London) for control DNA of B. dendrobatidis. JRD thanks the Blodwen Lloyd Binns bequest for a travel grant. We thank the Wildlife section, Forestry Division of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for successive Special Game Licences under the Conservation of Wildlife Act, permitting us to carry out the work reported here. RS thanks Jahson Alemu for help with site identification and for help with fieldwork. We also thank all those students on University of Glasgow Trinidad Expeditions in 2012, 2013 and 2014 who helped with fieldwork. We also thank John Murphy and Rick Lehtinen for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Keywords
- chytrid infection
- IUCN red list
- mannophryne trinitatis
- removal sampling
- Trinidad stream frog