The members of the AmphibiaWeb team and of the AmphibiaWebEcuador and AmphibiaChina websites assessed the state of the last five years of amphibian research (2016-2020). The manuscript has been posted as preprint and is available at https://ecoevorxiv.org/r9qga/.
We show that while research and data availability are increasing rapidly, information is not evenly distributed across research fields, clades, or geographic regions, leading to substantial knowledge gaps. A complete review of amphibian NCBI resources indicates that genomic data are poised for rapid expansion, but amphibian genomes pose significant challenges. A review of recent conservation literature and cataloged threats on 1,261 species highlight the need to address land use change and disease using adaptive management strategies.
One of the findings is that amphibian discoveries continue unabated -- nearly 800 new species described from 2016-2020, many of them from Latin America (especially the Andes) and SE Asia (see map below, with new species accumulation curves by region).
We underscore the importance of database integration for advancing amphibian research and conservation and suggest other understudied or imperiled clades would benefit from similar assessments.
We show that while research and data availability are increasing rapidly, information is not evenly distributed across research fields, clades, or geographic regions, leading to substantial knowledge gaps. A complete review of amphibian NCBI resources indicates that genomic data are poised for rapid expansion, but amphibian genomes pose significant challenges. A review of recent conservation literature and cataloged threats on 1,261 species highlight the need to address land use change and disease using adaptive management strategies.
One of the findings is that amphibian discoveries continue unabated -- nearly 800 new species described from 2016-2020, many of them from Latin America (especially the Andes) and SE Asia (see map below, with new species accumulation curves by region).
We underscore the importance of database integration for advancing amphibian research and conservation and suggest other understudied or imperiled clades would benefit from similar assessments.
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