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Frogs from Ranomafana National Park in Se Madagascar 2

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Frogs from Ranomafana National Park in Se Madagascar 2 AMPHIBIAN ARK SEED GRANT PROPOSAL BY VALERIE C. CLARK ET AL. 1. CONSTRUCTION OF A BREEDING ROOM AT CENTRE VALBIO FOR ENDANGERED FROGS FROM RANOMAFANA NATIONAL PARK IN SE MADAGASCAR 2. Names, institutional affiliations, and email addresses of project leaders: Valerie C. Clark, Ph.D., President/Founder of the Indigenous Forest Research Organization for Global Sustainability (i.F.r.o.g.s.), Email: [email protected], Phone: 212-864-1123; Devin Edmonds, Amphibian Conservation Director of Association Mitsinjo, Madagascar, Email: [email protected], Phone: +261 34 69 144 38 Hery A. Rakotondravony, Ph.D., Professor at the University of Antananarivo, Co-Founder and Advisory Committee member of the i.F.r.o.g.s., Email: [email protected]; Patricia C. Wright, Ph.D., Professor at Stony Brook University, President of Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE), and Vice President and Co-Founder of the i.F.r.o.g.s., Email: [email protected], Phone: 631-882-2812. 3. Total funding amount requested from Amphibian Ark: USD $4,988 4. Executive summary The threat of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium denrobatidis (Bd) was recently confirmed in Malagasy frogs, making urgent a coordinated effort among the conservation communities to ensure a future for the 500+ amphibian species endemic to Madagascar. In response, we propose collaboration between Association Mitsinjo, Madagascar Flora and Fauna Group’s (MFG) Parc Ivoloina, Centre ValBio (CVB), ICTE and i.F.r.o.g.s. by creating the Frog and Arthropod Breeding (FAB) Facility. It will be located at Centre ValBio (CVB) in the amphibian diversity hotspot of Ranomafana National Park (RNP) in southeast Madagascar and will focus on ex situ rescue of the most endangered frog species from the surrounding areas. Initial breeding programs will involve Malagasy poison frogs (Mantella spp.) because their captive husbandry is well established. First, local CVB staff will be trained to work with the common poison frog Mantella baroni. This will allow a rapid response to establish a captive assurance colony of the IUCN red listed Endangered (AArk priority 42) Mantella bernhardi once capacities are developed. Founders will be collected from the three remaining sites where the species occurs in a coordinated effort to ensure its survival. Seed funds from AArk will be used to (1) purchase materials for building the frog and arthropod enclosures, (2) transport the team to field sites for collection of arthropod feeders and founding populations of Mantella spp., and (3) training of CVB staff to run the FAB Facility. Expansion of the FAB program is envisioned to include additional biosecure room(s) at CVB for breeding of other high priority species based upon IUCN status, up-to-date recommendations from members of A Conservation Strategy for the Amphibians of Madagascar (ACSAM), and AArk priorities. 5. Introduction Madagascar is the only natural home to some of the most unique frogs in the world, including four families and 25 genera. Recent DNA barcoding has revealed potentially more than 500 speciesPerl et al. 2014, all but two of which are endemic to Madagascar, the fourth largest island on Earth. Alarmingly, it’s estimated that less than 3% of the original rainforest that supports the majority of these amphibian species may remain; worse still, habitat destruction is not the only threat frogs here face. Nearly 25% of Madagascar’s frog species are heading towards extinction due to slash and burn agricultural practices, charcoal production, legal and illegal logging, livestock grazing, mining and associated pollutants, and over-collection of animals for the pet and food trades. Colorful Malagasy poison frogs (Mantella spp.) are especially targeted by the pet trade despite often having extremely restricted distributions. A recent report Kolby 2014 indicates that Bd is now present in Madagascar, increasing the urgency for a country-wide and 1 AMPHIBIAN ARK SEED GRANT PROPOSAL BY VALERIE C. CLARK ET AL. international cooperative effort among scientists and institutions to address amphibian declines via in situ and ex situ approaches. Thus, we propose to build the FAB Facility to support assurance colonies of threatened amphibian species from forests near and within RNP. At least 112 frog species are known to occur in or near the 41,600 hectares of RNP (Vietes et al. 2009). Of special concern are locally endemic species found in isolated forest fragments on the edges of the park. The proposed ex situ captive breeding program would rescue local species and safeguard them against the threat of Bd or other irreversible threats. In particular, the smallest of the Mantella species, namely M. bernhardi, is known only to occur in three isolated populations. With its extremely restricted distribution and proximity to a location where Bd positive individuals were likely collected,Vences 2014 this highly threatened yet charismatic amphibian is at extreme risk and requires conservation action to ensure its survival. Luckily, our team has experience in Madagascar including (1) in situ studies on the diet and toxins of Mantella by Clark2005,2006,2012, (2) in situ biodiversity inventories including encyclopedic knowledge of amphibian distribution by Rakotondravony, and (3) ex situ breeding success by Edmonds and the team of Association Mitsinjo who maintain captive populations of Malagasy frogs in a biosecure setting further north in Andasibe. Additionally, in an IACUC approved facility in the USA, Clark reared six species of the genus Mantella in captivity Clark2010, 2012, and the local CVB staff who will operate the FAB Facility on a daily basis have existing experience working with the international scientific community. Such combined expertise will ensure the FAB Facility has a major impact on amphibian conservation in Madagascar. 6. Methodology. The FAB Facility will begin as a large room measuring 31 x 31 meters within CVB near the entrance to RNP in the Province of Fianarantsoa, southeast Madagascar. The already present state of art facilities, reliable electricity and water, experienced staff, and knowledge of the team at this location will expedite the completion of a fully-functioning biosecure FAB Facility. Minor renovations will be made to improve biosecurity standards of the room, including treatment of incoming and outgoing water and development of a separate entrance room to allow staff to change into dedicated footwear and clothing before entering and exiting the FAB Facility. Initially, the locally common species M. baroni (IUCN Red List LC) will be set up as a surrogate for M. bernhardi to train staff on basic husbandry and biosecure protocols. Individual identities of frogs will be recorded via digital photographs of their unique ventral markings, and the captive colony will be established using AArk Population Management Guidelines Schad 2007. For example, weight and body condition scoring will be used to track frogs’ health and train staff in these techniques. Biosecurity principles described by Mendelson and Pessier2010 would be followed to provide staff with an established set of habits and protocols suitable for maintaining captive populations of threatened amphibian species. Following acclimation, frogs will be established in groups in glass terrariums built on site with local materials, guided by the experienced staff from Association Mitsinjo from Madagascar. Prior to establishing captive frog populations, live food colonies will be set up at the FAB Facility. Stocks of live foods from Association Mitsinjo will be established for those arthropod species that also occur naturally in RNP. Additional feeder species will be sourced from the area around RNP and bred on-site at CVB, including local crickets, fruit flies, collembolans, isopods, and cockroaches. Staff will also experiment with culturing and/or collecting termites and ants for live foods, as especially the latter has been shown to make up a majority of the wild diet for Mantella species Clark 2005. Powdered vitamin and mineral supplements and “gutloading” techniques will be used to ensure that nutritional requirements of the frogs are met. 2 AMPHIBIAN ARK SEED GRANT PROPOSAL BY VALERIE C. CLARK ET AL. Two local people from the Ranomafana area will be hired and trained as new staff to ensure the daily care of live frogs and food colonies. These fulltime employees are needed for maintenance, cleaning and control of frog vivaria, record keeping, and live food production. Training exchanges between these CVB staff, Association Mitsinjo in Andasibe, and amphibian keepers at MFG’s Parc Ivoloina will help prepare a functional network of in-country locally staffed biosecure breeding facilities in Madagascar. By working together in a collaborative effort, we envision three functional focal points for ex situ amphibian conservation action on the island, with our facility operating for the southeast of the country around Ranomafana. This project also serves to educate and raise awareness of the threats that Malagasy amphibians face, while at the same time helping generate revenue to sustainably run the breeding program. Specifically, captive populations and surplus offspring of the analogue species M. baroni, initially used for training, will be moved from the FAB Facililty to a public display with informational panels once staff are well-experienced in amphibian captive husbandry. This public display (supported by non-AArk funds) will generate income via an entrance fee from tourists. RNP is a particularly popular destination for ecotourists with an estimated 100,000 or more annual visitors. These public amphibian exhibits will also be integrated into an existing environmental education campaign for the local communities of the Ranomafana area. The current CVB scientific director, John Cadle, oversees all activities at CVB year- round and will communicate with our team weekly via the internet following the initial training period. If additional funding is secured, a Master’s Student selected by Dr. Rakotondravony from the University of Antananarivo will join the team in January 2015. If this initial AArk Seed Grant is successful, then a donor would support Project Director Dr.
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