Conservation of Caribbean Island Herpetofaunas, Volume 1: Conservation Biology and the Wider Caribbean

234 Pages·2011·3.22 MB·English

by  Adrian Hailey

Conservation of Caribbean Island
Herpetofaunas
Volume 1: Conservation Biology
and the Wider Caribbean
Editedby
Adrian Hailey
Byron S. Wilson
Julia A. Horrocks
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2011

Coverphoto:Pristimantisurichi,endemictoTrinidadandTobago,fromTrinidad(photoby
A.Hailey).IUCNStatus:Endangered.
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
ConservationofCaribbeanislandherpetofaunas/editedbyAdrianHailey,ByronS.Wilson,
JuliaA.Horrocks.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-19410-6(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-18395-7(vol.1:alk.
paper)–ISBN978-90-04-19408-3(vol.2:alk.paper)1.Amphibians–Conservation–
CaribbeanArea.2.Reptiles–Conservation–CaribbeanArea.I.Hailey,Adrian.II.Wilson,
ByronS.III.Horrocks,Julia.IV.Title.
QL656.A1C662011
597.8–dc22
2011008986
ISBN 978-90-04-18395-7(volume1)
ISBN 978-90-04-19408-3(volume2)
ISBN 978-90-04-19410-6(set)
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Contents
Preface 1
Introduction.ConservationofinsularherpetofaunasintheWest 3
Indies
ByronS.Wilson,JuliaA.HorrocksandAdrianHailey
AnoverviewoftheevolutionandconservationofWestIndian 19
amphibiansandreptiles
S.BlairHedges
TheconservationstatusofamphibiansintheWestIndies 31
S.BlairHedgesandLuisM.Díaz
AnoverviewofsnakeconservationintheWestIndies 49
PeterJ.TolsonandRobertW.Henderson
IntroducedamphibiansandreptilesinthegreaterCaribbean: 63
Patternsandconservationimplications
RobertPowell,RobertW.Henderson,MichaelC.Farmer,Michel
Breuil,ArthurC.Echternacht,GerardvanBuurt,ChristinaM.
RomagosaandGadPerry
ConservationofamphibiansandreptilesinAruba,Curaçaoand 145
Bonaire
GerardvanBuurt
Statusandconservationofthereptilesandamphibiansofthe 161
Bermudaislands
JamieP.Bacon,JenniferA.GrayandLisaKitson
ConservationofherpetofaunaintheRepublicofTrinidadand 183
Tobago
AdrianHaileyandMichelleCazabon-Mannette
Indexofgeneraandspecies 219
vi Contents
Volume 2
Preface
ConservingtheherpetofaunaofAnguilla
KarimV.D.Hodge,RobertPowellandEllenJ.Censky
AnintroductiontotheherpetofaunaofAntigua,BarbudaandRedonda,withsomeconservation
recommendations
JenniferC.Daltry
ConservationofamphibiansandreptilesinTheBahamas
CharlesR.Knapp,JohnB.Iverson,SandraD.BucknerandShelleyV.Cant
TheherpetofaunaofBarbados:Anthropogenicimpactsandconservationstatus
AngelaFieldsandJuliaA.Horrocks
ConservationofamphibiansandreptilesintheBritishVirginIslands:Statusandpatterns
G.PerryandG.P.Gerber
TheamphibiansandreptilesoftheCaymanIslands:Conservationissuesinthefaceofinvasions
A.C.Echternacht,F.J.BurtonandJ.M.Blumenthal
AreportonthestatusoftheherpetofaunaoftheCommonwealthofDominica,WestIndies
AnitaMalhotra,RogerS.Thorpe,EricHypoliteandArlingtonJames
ConservationoftheherpetofaunaoftheDominicanRepublic
RobertPowellandSixtoJ.Incháustegui
ConservationoftheherpetofaunaontheDutchWindwardIslands:St.Eustatius,Saba,andSt.
Maarten
RobertPowell
AmphibiansandreptilesoftheFrenchWestIndies:Inventory,threatsandconservation
OlivierLorvelec,MichelPascal,ClaudiePavisandPhilippeFeldmann
TheherpetofaunaofGrenadaandtheGrenadaGrenadines:Conservationconcerns
RobertW.HendersonandCraigS.Berg
AnannotatedchecklistoftheamphibiansandterrestrialreptilesoftheGrenadineswithnoteson
theirlocalnaturalhistoryandconservation
JacquesDaudinandMarkdeSilva
ConservationofJamaicanamphibiansandreptiles
ByronS.Wilson
TheterrestrialherpetofaunaofMartinique:Past,present,future
MichelBreuil
ConservingthePuertoRicanherpetofauna
RafaelL.Joglar,AlbertoO.Álvarez,T.MitchellAide,DianeBarber,PatriciaA.Burrowes,MiguelA.
García,AbimaelLeón-Cardona,AnaV.Longo,NéstorPérez-Buitrago,AlbertoPuente,Neftalí
Rios-LópezandPeterJ.Tolson
TheSt.Vincent(LesserAntilles)herpetofauna:Conservationconcerns
RobertPowellandRobertW.Henderson
Status,conservation,andintroductionofamphibiansandreptilesintheTurksandCaicosIslands,
BritishWestIndies
R.GrahamReynolds
ConservationstatusofreptilesandamphibiansintheU.S.VirginIslands
RenataJ.PlatenbergandRalfH.Boulon,Jr.
Indexofgeneraandspecies
Preface
AsetofreviewsontheConservationofCaribbeanIslandHerpetofaunaswasorigi-
nallyproposed,inAugust2005,asaspecialissueofthejournalAppliedHerpetol-
ogy under the guest editorship of herpetologists at the three campuses of the Uni-
versityoftheWestIndies,withtheencouragementofthejournal’sEditor-in-Chief,
Mike Tyler. What proved to be the first part of a series was published in August
2006, and as the project expanded five parts were issued up to April 2009. Those
includedseveralnon-reviewpapersandothersthatwereindependentlysubmittedto
thejournalandeditedbyMikeTylerandthenincorporatedintotheseries(contents
arelistedathttp://www.ahailey.f9.co.uk/appliedherpetology/cariherp.htm).Applied
Herpetology ceased publication at the end of 2009, still leaving several invited pa-
pers for the Caribbean series in various stages of completion. Brill, the publishers
of the journal, agreed to reprint (with addenda giving updated information) the re-
view papers from Applied Herpetology and the subsequently completed papers in
book form. The first volume includes the non-geographic reviews (on taxa or is-
sues),plusthreereviewsonterritoriesthatformpartofthewiderCaribbeanregion
but are not biogeographically part of the West Indies. The second volume includes
geographicreviewsontheWestIndiesproper.Ofthe26papersinthetwovolumes,
about a third (9) are new and the remaining 17 were previously published in Ap-
plied Herpetology. Apart from the Introduction, all the papers have been through
the same assessment procedure of the original journal, involving at least two inde-
pendent anonymous referees (to whom we are grateful for helping to maintain the
quality of the series), and one or more stages of revision before acceptance. The
editorresponsibleandtheoriginalacceptancedateareindicatedforeachpaper.
Our aim was to provide a comprehensive set of articles detailing conservation
concerns and actions on the amphibians and reptiles (including sea turtles) of the
territories (islands or island groups) of the wider Caribbean, a region of notable
biodiversity. The participation of Caribbean-based authors was especially encour-
aged. It was expected that the level of detail would vary among papers, depending
onislandsizeandherpetologicalrichness,andtheamountofpublishedworkavail-
able. Subjects for consideration included the general ecology of the islands; their
human history, especially relating to development; major environmental problems;
conservationlegislation;protectedareasrelevanttoherpetofauna;conservationsta-
tus of the herpetofauna; notable species or groups; conservation programmes or
2 Preface
ecotourism involving amphibians and reptiles; introduced herpetofauna; and rec-
ommendations.Theauthorshave,webelieve, providedanexemplarysetofpapers
describing the conservation situation of herpetofauna in the wider Caribbean, and
in many cases charted the way ahead for the territories covered. We were unable
to source accounts for the remaining territories (although almost 50 contributions
wereinvited),butthegapswillhopefullystimulatenewsynthesisforthoseareas.It
was economically possible to include only monochrome photographs in either the
journal or the book, but colour versions of many of those are available at the web
site address above. We thank Dr Margarita C. Cuevas Gozalo, the project editor at
Brillforthesevolumes(andpreviouslyforAppliedHerpetology),forherconsistent
help.
AdrianHailey,ByronS.Wilson,JuliaA.Horrocks
TheUniversityoftheWestIndies
Introduction
Conservation of insular herpetofaunas in the West Indies
ByronS.Wilson1,JuliaA.Horrocks2,AdrianHailey3
1DepartmentofLifeSciences,UniversityoftheWestIndies,Mona,Kingston7,Jamaica.
Correspondingauthor;e-mail:[email protected]
2DepartmentofBiologicalandChemicalSciences,UniversityoftheWestIndies,CaveHill,
Barbados
3DepartmentofLifeSciences,UniversityoftheWestIndies,St.Augustine,TrinidadandTobago
Keywords:Amphibian;biodiversity;Caribbean;conservation;habitatloss;Haiti;invasivespecies;
reptile;seaturtles;WestIndies.
Introduction
This special issue series of Applied Herpetology assesses the status of amphibian
and reptile conservation efforts in the insular West Indies. Most of the invited
contributions will cover single islands or island groups, but some papers will have
a thematic focus on a taxon (e.g. snakes, amphibians, sea turtles) or conservation
issue(e.g.,invasivespecies,recentextinctions).Ourareaofgeographiccoverageis
the insular western Atlantic tropical coral province, a region containing all islands
within the Caribbean Sea, plus the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos islands, and
Bermuda, with the aim of discussing the herpetological conservation problems of
small island developing states (Griffith and Ashe, 1993; Oldfield and Sheppard,
1997; Pelling and Uitto, 2001) within this area. These islands share not only the
environmental problems associated with small (or relatively small) size, but also a
history(andsometimesapresent)ofexternalpoliticalcontrol,andhighpopulation
densities of largely or entirely non-indigenous peoples. They also have a similar
faunal base, indeed increasingly so with species introductions – even the Bermuda
islandsnowhavemorethanhalfoftheirterrestrialherpetofaunabeingofAntillean