--Bruce Stallsmith
along the once free-flowing Tennessee
Huntsville, AL, US of A
* * * ** * * * * * ** ** ** ** ** **
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
30 March 2005
Challenges in Evaluating the Impact of the Trade in Amphibians and Reptiles
on
Wild Populations
Martin A. Schlaepfer, Craig Hoover, and C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr.
BioScience 55(3): 256-264 (March 2005)
Abstract: Amphibians and reptiles are taken from the wild and sold
commercially
as food, pets, and traditional medicines. The overcollecting of some species
highlights the need to assess the trade and ensure that it is not
contributing
to
declines in wild populations. Unlike most countries, the United States
tracks
the
imports and exports of all amphibians and reptiles. Records from 1998 to
2002
reveal a US trade of several million wild-caught amphibians and reptiles
each
year, although many shipments are not recorded-in-the species level. The
magnitude and content of the global commercial trade carries even greater
unknowns. The absence of accurate trade and biological information for most
species makes it difficult to establish whether current take levels are
sustainable. The void of information also implies that population declines
due
to
overcollecting could be going undetected. Policy changes to acquire baseline
biological information and ensure a sustainable trade are urgently needed.
A copy of this article can be downloaded gratis by visiting the CNAH PDF
Library
at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
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