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The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review

Abstract. Amphibians are a disproportionately threatened group of vertebrates, the status of which in Sub-Saharan Africa is still uncertain, with heterogeneous fauna punctuated by mountains. Mount Oku, Cameroon is one such mountain, which holds many endemic and restricted-range species. The history...

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Autores principales: Doherty-Bone, Thomas M., Gvoždík, Václav
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Pensoft Publishers 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5242271/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28144180
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.643.9422
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author Doherty-Bone, Thomas M.
Gvoždík, Václav
author_facet Doherty-Bone, Thomas M.
Gvoždík, Václav
author_sort Doherty-Bone, Thomas M.
collection PubMed
description Abstract. Amphibians are a disproportionately threatened group of vertebrates, the status of which in Sub-Saharan Africa is still uncertain, with heterogeneous fauna punctuated by mountains. Mount Oku, Cameroon is one such mountain, which holds many endemic and restricted-range species. The history of amphibian research on Mt Oku, current knowledge on biogeography and conservation biology is reviewed, including recent findings. This updated inventory adds 25 further species, with 50 species of amphibian so far recorded to the Oku Massif (c. 900 to 3,011 m). This includes 5 endemic to Mt Oku, 7 endemic to the Bamenda Highlands, 18 restricted to the highlands of Cameroon and Nigeria, and 20 with broader ranges across Africa. This includes a new mountain locality for the Critically Endangered Leptodactylodon axillaris. Among others, the first record of Phrynobatrachus schioetzi and Ptychadena taenioscelis from Cameroon are presented. The uncertainty of habitat affinities and elevational ranges are discussed. The proportion of threatened species on Mt Oku is 44.2%, but projected to increase to 47.9% due to new species descriptions and recent dramatic declines. The natural habitats of Mt Oku are irreplaceable refuges for its endemic and restricted-range amphibian populations under severe pressure elsewhere in their range. Threats to this important amphibian fauna are increasing, including agricultural encroachment, expanding aquaculture, livestock grazing, pollution, invasive species, forest loss and degradation. Past, present and desired conservation interventions to address these threats are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-52422712017-01-31 The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review Doherty-Bone, Thomas M. Gvoždík, Václav Zookeys Checklist Abstract. Amphibians are a disproportionately threatened group of vertebrates, the status of which in Sub-Saharan Africa is still uncertain, with heterogeneous fauna punctuated by mountains. Mount Oku, Cameroon is one such mountain, which holds many endemic and restricted-range species. The history of amphibian research on Mt Oku, current knowledge on biogeography and conservation biology is reviewed, including recent findings. This updated inventory adds 25 further species, with 50 species of amphibian so far recorded to the Oku Massif (c. 900 to 3,011 m). This includes 5 endemic to Mt Oku, 7 endemic to the Bamenda Highlands, 18 restricted to the highlands of Cameroon and Nigeria, and 20 with broader ranges across Africa. This includes a new mountain locality for the Critically Endangered Leptodactylodon axillaris. Among others, the first record of Phrynobatrachus schioetzi and Ptychadena taenioscelis from Cameroon are presented. The uncertainty of habitat affinities and elevational ranges are discussed. The proportion of threatened species on Mt Oku is 44.2%, but projected to increase to 47.9% due to new species descriptions and recent dramatic declines. The natural habitats of Mt Oku are irreplaceable refuges for its endemic and restricted-range amphibian populations under severe pressure elsewhere in their range. Threats to this important amphibian fauna are increasing, including agricultural encroachment, expanding aquaculture, livestock grazing, pollution, invasive species, forest loss and degradation. Past, present and desired conservation interventions to address these threats are discussed. Pensoft Publishers 2017-01-06 /pmc/articles/PMC5242271/ /pubmed/28144180 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.643.9422 Text en Thomas M. Doherty-Bone, Václav Gvoždík http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Checklist
Doherty-Bone, Thomas M.
Gvoždík, Václav
The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
title The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
title_full The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
title_fullStr The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
title_full_unstemmed The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
title_short The Amphibians of Mount Oku, Cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
title_sort amphibians of mount oku, cameroon: an updated species inventory and conservation review
topic Checklist
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5242271/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28144180
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.643.9422
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