Cfreptiles & Amphibians
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WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNALTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES &IRCF AMPHIBIANS REPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 189 25(3):232–236 • DEC 2018 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS CONSERVATION IN ACTION FEATURE ARTICLES . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: On theRedonda Road to Understanding the Ecology Island and Conservation of the Midwest’sThrives Giant Serpent ...................... after Joshua M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCHComplex ARTICLES Conservation Project: . The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 Magical. The Knight Anole (AnolisTransformation equestris) in Florida Spells Brighter .............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 FutureCONSERVATION for ALERT Redonda’s Fantastic Beasts* . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . More Than Mammals ...............................................................................................................................Tim Knight ....................................... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 Fauna & Flora International HUSBANDRY Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, United Kingdom . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 Campaign to removePROFILE invasive rats and goats from Redonda has yielded spectacular results for the island’s unique and special wildlife. Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234 COMMENTARY f conservationists .hadThe Turtles waved Have Beena magic Watching wand, Me ........................................................................................................................ the results Speaking on behalf Eric of Gangloff the 238Department of the Icould hardly have been more spectacular. Within 12 Environment, Dr. Helena Jeffery Brown said: “The months of starving BOOKgoats and REVIEW thousands of ravenous rats being Government of Antigua and Barbuda considers the return to . Threatened1 Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, removed from RedondaR., Berridge, this remote P. Ramani, andCaribbean B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. island has life of Redonda as a shining Robert beacon Powell 243in our collective efforts witnessed a miraculous transformation. CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS:2 Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. Since the ambitious restoration program was rolled out, 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS 1 the rock of Redonda has been transfigured from an inhospita: Summaries- of Published Redonda Reports harbors on Natural a number History ................................. of endemic species 247 that occur nowhere else in NEWBRIEFS ...............................................................................................................................the world, including....................................................... at least five species of 248reptiles, such as the Redonda EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251 ble lunar landscape to a greener haven. More importantly, the Ground Dragon (Pholidoscelis atratus). In 2015, all of the surviving rep- FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 unique plants and animals native to this isolated, uninhabited tile species were evaluated by the IUCN as Critically Endangered, mean- outpost of Antigua and Barbuda are making a rapid recovery ing they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Redonda has regionally and globally significant colonies of seabirds, including after being freed from an alien invasion. Brown Boobies, Masked Boobies, Red-footed Boobies, Magnificent The evocatively named RedondaFront Cover. Ground Shannon Plummer. Dragon Frigatebirds,Back Cover. and Michael Red-billed Kern Tropicbirds. It was internationally recog- nized as an Important Bird Area in 2009.The Black or Ship Rats ( (Pholidoscelis atratus), a rare black lizardTotat found et velleseque nowhere audant else mo on the Totat et velleseque audant mo Rattus planet, has doubled in number — justestibus one inveliquo of the veliquemany rerchil fantastic rattusestibus) inveliquothat invaded velique Redondarerchil were among the largest recorded members erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus,of this species quos accullabo. and were Ilibus observed hunting and killing the island’s liz- beasts that have been pulled back fromaut the dolor brink apicto ofinvere extinction pe dolum by autards dolor and apicto seabirds. invere peDietary dolum analyses have shown that they also consumed removing the predatory black rats andfugiatis plant-devouring maionsequat eumque goats. enormousfugiatis maionsequat quantities eumque of plants and invertebrates. Christopher Columbus moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- And it doesn’t stop there. In less than a year, numbers of named the island in 1493 and claimed it for Spain. Redonda was later ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos transferredtur ma derrovitae to the voluptam, British as Crown and around 7,000 tons of seabird guano the equally rare Redonda Tree Lizardsaccullabo. (Anolis nubilis) have was harvested annually from 1865 to 1914. It was likely during this tripled, hundreds of new trees have sprung up, land birds period that rats were introduced to the island. The mining community have increased tenfold, and the island’s globally important was disbanded during World War I, after which the island was uninhab- seabird colonies — including Magnificent Frigatebirds and ited. In 1967, Redonda became a dependency of Antigua and Barbuda. several booby species — are having their best breeding year 2 on record. The Redonda Restoration Programme is supported by, among others, the Darwin Initiative through UK Government funding, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Global Wildlife Conservation, Betty Liebert Trust, US Fish & Wildlife Service NMBCA, and Syngenta Crop Protection * Reprinted and adapted with permission from <https://www.island- AG. The Redonda Restoration Programme is part of a larger effort to conservation.org/magical-transformation-spells-brighter-future-redon- protect global biodiversity. Forty-one percent of the world’s most highly das-fantastic-beasts/?utm_source=Island+Conservation+Newsletter& threatened vertebrates are found on islands, with invasive species intro- utm_campaign=b65f72316e-August-Redonda%2FNewPetrel%2FKau duced to islands being a leading cause of extinction. Removing invasive ai+%CA%BB%C5%8D%CA%BB%C5%8D%28Donor%29&utm_ species from islands is an effective and proven way to save many of our medium=email&utm_term=0_778049eff2-b65f72316e-127658713>. world’s most vulnerable species. To date, more than 400 successful proj- Changes include the insertion of scientific names in the text, a conver- ects have removed invasive rodents from islands. The pace, scale, and sion from British to American English, and adaptation to IRCF Reptiles complexity of these efforts are increasing in recognition of the threat & Amphibians format. invasive species pose to biodiversity. Copyright © 2018. Tim Knight. All rights reserved. 232 IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 KNIGHT IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 25(3):232–236 • DEC 2018 Redonda before restoration. Photograph by Ed Marshall, FFI. towards ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation conservation efforts really show the benefits of invasive species that will bring us another step closer to attaining some of the removal on Caribbean island ecosystems.” Aichi Biodiversity Targets3.” The project’s coordinator, Shanna Challenger, of the “Blood, Sweat, Toil, and Teamwork” Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) and Fauna & Flora In the field of conservation, where successful outcomes can International (FFI), added: “This has been the opportunity take years if not decades to materialize, the spectacular results of a lifetime — witnessing an island be reborn. Changes fore- on Redonda appear remarkably swift. casted to happen in five years occurred within months. Our The reality, of course, is that this “overnight” transforma- tion was a long time in the making. It took seven months of blood, sweat, toil, and — above all — teamwork to catch doz- ens of nimble goats and remove over 6,000 rats from every inch of Redonda’s rugged terrain. This Caribbean island makeover involved