The terrestrial salamander Pseudoeurycea goebeli, one of the commonest 40 years ago on the cloud forest slopes of the Tajumulco volcano, has now disappeared. This specimen was photographed at a neighboring volcano, Chicabal, only 50 kilometers to the east of Tajumulco, where the salamander is much reduced in population.
BERKELEY — The decline of amphibian populations worldwide has been documented primarily in frogs, but salamander populations also appear to have plummeted, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists. The terrestrial salamander Pseudoeurycea goebeli , one of the commonest 40 years ago on the cloud forest slopes of the Tajumulco volcano, has now disappeared. This specimen was photographed at a neighboring volcano, Chicabal, only 50 kilometers to the east of Tajumulco, where the salamander is much reduced in population. (Sean M. Rovito/UC Berkeley photo) By comparing tropical salamander populations in Central America today with results of surveys conducted between 1969 and 1978, UC Berkeley researchers have found that populations of many of the commonest salamanders have steeply declined. "There have been hints before - people went places and couldn't find salamanders. But this is the first time we've really had, with a very solid, large database, this kind of evidence," said study leader David Wake, professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley and curator of herpetology in the campus's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Frog declines have been attributed to a variety of causes, ranging from habitat destruction, pesticide use and introduced fish predators to the Chytrid fungus, which causes an often fatal disease, chytridiomycosis.
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