Nicolson, DJ;
Tapley, B;
Jayson, S;
Dale, J;
Harding, L;
Spencer, J;
Sulton, M;
... Cunningham, AA; + view all
(2017)
Development of in-country live food production for amphibian conservation: the mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) on Dominica, West Indies.
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
, 11
(2)
Preview |
Text
Nicholson_ARC_11_2_[General_Section]_59-68_e149_high_res.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Amphibian populations are in global decline. Conservation breeding programmes (CBPs) are a tool used to prevent species extinctions. Ideally, to meet biosecurity, husbandry and other requirements, CBPs should be conducted within the species’ geographic range. A particular issue with in-country amphibian CBPs is that of live food supply. In many areas, such as oceanic islands, commonly cultured food species used by zoos throughout the world cannot be used, as escapes are certain to occur and could lead to the introduction of alien, and potentially highly destructive, invasive species. Here, we describe the establishment of live food cultures for the Critically Endangered mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) at a conservation breeding facility on the Caribbean island of Dominica. Not all invertebrate species were suitable for long term culture and several species were rejected by captive L. fallax, making them unsuitable as food items. Despite the CBP being established within a range state, it was not possible to provide a diet of comparable variety to that of wild L. fallax. Our experiences may provide guidance for the establishment of live food culture systems for other conservation breeding programmes elsewhere.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Development of in-country live food production for amphibian conservation: the mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) on Dominica, West Indies |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org/archive.... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2017 Nicholson et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use for non-commercial and education purposes only, in any medium, provided the original author and the ofcial and authorized publication sources are recognized and properly credited. The official and authorized publication credit sources, which will be duly enforced, are as follows: official journal title Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; official journal website <amphibian-reptile-conservation.org> |
| Keywords: | Captive breeding, live food culture; invertebrate husbandry, conservation breeding programme |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1566663 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
