Why Green and Golden Bell FrogsLitoria aureashould not be translocated — a personal opinion

2 Pages·1996·0.08 MB·English

by  Allen Greer

Why Green and Golden Bell Frogs Litoria aurea
should not be translocated - a personal opinion
Allen E. Greer
The Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000
ABSTRACT
of ahS.ao1 e. nc. Ji .em.s aa- n nsd- vo7aa-~wFu ~l~o na t~si poe~n cas~ nr ee-s. Pa.nOdP~ Ja~ law llao~vnss, ha~ar~ vS e~e bs~ e~f~ero nm.. t iIen~d~e airn tnimalda~treal~ v atos,s ~ao coa watal"orna. ~wh tinc apol'a lcaec e.T Mrauncsh-
ocal on Drea<s forever lne hislorca nalJra nk oerween !he organlsm and place Wnal lnen are we
really "saving" when we translocate them?
DISCUSSION globe and then spread to other parts of the
earth, and a few Green and Golden Bell Frogs
One of the first thoughts that ol'ten comes to
entering a new habitat such as a recently formed
the mind ol' a property manager with a Gteen
wetland spreads throughout that habitat in a
and Golden Bell Frog "problem" is "Why not
non-random pattern. The historical relationship
just move them to some other place?" After all,
between evolving populations and geography
there are many seemingly suitable habitats with-
can be inferred through detailed study of
out frogs. And what could be an easier and more
morphology, genetics, and earth history.
generally satisfacto~ys olution for all concerned,
including the frogs, than just moving them to a The second important geographic component
new location that is not as "inconvenient" as of local populations is genetic adaptation to local
their present location? conditions. A particular enzyme modification
such as revealed in the electrophoretic analysis
Aside from the issue of whether those "vacant"
of GI-een and Golden Bell Fmgs to date (Colgan
locations really are suitable, and whether the
1996), a particular colour pattern, ot- a specific
translocation can be successfully achieved (Dodd
nuance of the male advertisement call may be
and Seigel 1991; Keincrt 1991), 1 believe there
adaptive in a local context. This is not only
is another reason ihr not moving the frogs, or
potentially important to the local population but
any other endangered species for that matter, to
also important to those people who are intetested
a new location except under the most extreme
in evolution at the local ot- population level.
circumstances. This reason has to do with the
importance of the geographical place which the But Green and Golden Bell Fl-o~asr e probably
species, or in practical terms, the local popula- good at finding and exploiting new places all on
tion, has occupied through natural means and their own. What is so different, therefore,
events. Many of the reasons humans value between that and people giving them just a
organisms in the first place arise from this "little bit of help"? The difference is that in the
connection. first instance it is the frogs themselves that
are "making the decision" and living with the
The evolutionary lineages, of which local
evolutionat-y consequences - as has always been
populations are the cur~entlyev olving tips, have
the case. But irr the second instance, it is people
two important geographic components. The
who are making the decisions, both conscious
first, is the geographical pattern that those
and unconscious, about which fi-ogs, and there-
lineages have traced over the landscape through
fore which genes, will be relocated into which
their own historical dispersal and, reciprocally,
place. The biological outcotnes from the two
the pattern that the landscape has imposed
methods 01' relocation are likely to be vastly
upon the populations through geological
dil'iet-ent.
(including climatic) events. Lineages spread out
across the landscape in non-random ways folio\*'- Translocation of populations breaks the
ing suitable habitat, and geological events can connection between the organism and place.
cause lineages to split and branch. These historical Furthermore, unless there is a detailed and
geographic el'lects act at all levels tiom continents long-term record kept of the translocated
down to suhdivisions of local habitats such as the populations, as Inore and mot-e populations are
brickpit at Hornebush Bay (Greer 1994; Pyke translocated, we will lose tl-ack of which popula-
1995), Sydney, and the ponds and lakes on the tions have been translocated and which at-e
Kurnell Peninsula (pers. obs.) south of Sydney. natural. And unless representative samples of
Frogs themselves evolved at one spot on the the original and "in transit" populations are kept
Australian Zoologist 30(2) 257
in permanent storage (frozen tissue), we lose all ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
hope of ever knowing what part of a trans-
I thank D. Colgan, M. Christy and S. Jones
located population's biology is due to its pre-
for critically reading the manuscript.
translocation evolutionary history, what part is
due to its translocation experience (e.g., the
severe artificial selection inherent in a captive
breeding programme) and what part due to its
REFERENCES
post-translocation evolutionary experience. At
this stage, there is no evidence that there is the Culgan, D., 1996. Electrophoretic variation in the Green and
will or the resources to support these kinds of Colden Bell Frog Litoriaou~eoA. wl. Zoul. 30(2):1 70-76.
locality and specimen data bases on the scale Dodd, C. K. and Seigel, R. A,, 1991. Relocation, repatriation
required in perpetuity. and rranslncation of amphibians and reptiles: are they
conservarion strategies that work? Herpelulogica 47:
Translocation is a conservation technique of 33650.
last resort, to be considered only to save a species
Gmer, A. E., 1994. Faunal impan statement for the proposed
or a significant population from extinction. It is
development work at the Homebush Bay brick pit.
more useful than taking the species or popula- Repon prepared for the Property Serivces Group;
tion completely into captivity, but it is only one 30 PP.
step away. It preserves the organism, but not its
Pyke, G. H., 1995. Fauna Impact Statement for por~osed
geographical context. It launches the population development works at the Homebush Bay Development
onto a new evolutionary path, hut without a Area, excluding the brickpit. Prepared far the Olympic
record of what its previous path has been. For Co-ordination Agency; 66 pp.
those to whom the concept of an organism is
Reinert, H. K., 1991. Translocation as a conservation
inseparable from its place, translocation is, in strategy for amphibians and reptiles: some comments,
effect, a kind of extinction. concerns and observauons. Herpelologica 47: 35743.
258 Australian Zoologist 30(2) May 1996