The Kihansi Spray Toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis) Crisis Biology in the 21st Century

About this book

The captive breeding and reintroduction of highly threatened species are among the most challenging conservation interventions and often represent the final tool in a comparatively small toolbox to conserve rapidly declining species. This book details the species recovery program that was designed and implemented over two decades to conserve the Kihansi Spray Toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis), an extinct-in-the-wild tropical amphibian that was known from only one locality: in the spray zone of the Kihansi Falls in the Kihansi Gorge, Udzungwa Mountains, eastern Tanzania. More than 20 international and national institutions were involved in the design and implementation of the species recovery program. This complex two-decade effort highlights the challenges of conserving highly threatened tropical amphibians and integrating conservation with development in the 21st century. This volume will appeal to biologists, conservation and development practitioners, and institutions and individuals concerned about the conservation of biodiversity.

Contents

Chapter 1. Captive Breeding and Reintroduction of Globally Threatened Species
Chapter 2. International Concern about the Kihansi Spray Toad
Chapter 3. Discovery of the Kihansi Spray Toad
Chapter 4. Proposed Mitigation Options to Conserve the Kihansi Spray Toad and Its Habitat, 1995 - 1999
Chapter 5. World Bank Environmental Review of the Lower Kihansi Hydropower Project, 2000
Chapter 6. Immediate Rescue and Emergency Measures Project, 2000 - 2001
Chapter 7. Design of the Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project, 2001
Chapter 8. Implementation of the Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project, 2002 - 2003
Chapter 9. Implementation of the Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project, July 2003 - 2007
Chapter 10. Captive Breeding of the Kihansi Spray Toad in U.S. Zoos
Chapter 11. Planning for the Reintroduction of the Kihansi Spray Toad
Chapter 12. Establishment of a Captive Breeding Populations in Tanzania
Chapter 13. Pre-Reintroduction Assessment of the Spray Wetlands
Chapter 14. Reintroduction of the Kihansi Spray Toad
Chapter 15. Hard Releases of the Kihansi Spray Toad back to the Kihansi Gorge
Chapter 16. Enclosure Studies
Chapter 17. Mark-Recapture Studies
Chapter 18. Summary of Soft and Hard Releases, 2012-2023
Chapter 19. Implementation Costs
Chapter 20. Potential Contributory Factors to Low Post-Release Survival of the Kihansi Spray Toad
Chapter 21. Lessons Learned

Customer Reviews

Biography

William D. Newmark is a research curator and conservation biologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah. He holds a B.A. in biology from the University of Colorado, an M.S. in wildland management from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in ecology from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on patterns of vertebrate extinction, protected area and wildlife corridor design, animal movement, and captive breeding and reintroduction. He has conducted field research in western North America and East Africa for four decades. From 2000 to 2019, he served as the lead technical consultant to the World Bank on the design and implementation of the species recovery program for the Kihansi Spray Toad.