Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles provides an up-to-date assessment of the diversity, endemicity, and conservation status of the herpetofauna of Mexico and Central America, one of the planet's largest and most significant biodiversity hotspots. This volume brings together the work of herpetologists who have devoted much of their careers to the study of the imperiled Mesoamerican herpetofauna to address the conservation needs of these tetrapod vertebrates in this region.
Chapters on herpetofaunal conservation are featured for each of the Mesoamerican countries, with Mexico divided into four regions. Other feature chapters include such topics as the Global Amphibian Assessment, recent taxonomic changes, herpetofaunal distribution patterns, and a closing chapter examining the biodiversity significance, conservation status, and the future challenges we face in attempting to save the entire Mesoamerican herpetofauna.
The book contains a complete conservation assessment of the herpetofauna of this megadiverse region, in addition to distributional analyses from the perspectives of country, physiographic region, elevation and vegetation zone. The systematics of the Mesoamerican herpetofauna is discussed and brought up to date, highlighted with commentary on current taxonomic problems.