The first GAA3 meeting for Red Listing the amphibians of southern African 

The first Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) took place in various workshops around the world from 1999 to 2002 (see Stuart et al 2004). I got involved by helping to assess the South African pipids while at University of the Western Cape (Measey 2004), and later at a workshop in Watamu, Kenya in April 2002.

I hosted the first re-assessment of South African amphibians in 2009, a process that incorporated the published strategy for conservation research on southern African amphibians. Together with other members of the workshop, we turned the results of this meeting into a book (Measey 2011), which I edited, and was published by SANBI in early 2011. The book is available as a free pdf to download, and you can get your own copy here. 

We repeated the Red Listing process again in November 2015 (see here) as well as appraising the results of the previous meeting (Measey et al. 2019), and these results were carried into the second Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA2), one of the outputs of which was published last year (see here) (Luedtke et al. 2023).

The assessments should be updated every five years, and so it was high time to do it again. This time we got together at the Calders Hotel in Fish Hoek.

It’s quite fun to see the faces in these images ageing. There has been a loss of a few of the older faces too. But the really great thing was to see the large number of new faces who brought with them some excellent expertise that amazed me. The workshop was hosted by Josh Weeber and current IUCN southern African Amphibian Specialist Group (IUCN-SSC) Chair Jeanne Tarrant.

This is officially the first workshop of the GAA3!

Although we spent four days solidly assessing the amphibians, we didn’t finish. Lots more work to do before we can submit the updates and have them published on the Red List site. Stay tuned for this update.

Further Reading:

Measey, G.J. (2004). The Genus Xenopus (Wagler 1827). In:  Atlas and Red Data Book of the Frogs ofSouth Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, 258-259. Minter, L.R. et al. (eds). Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. pdf

Measey, G.J. (ed.) (2011). Ensuring a Future for South Africa's Frogs: A Strategy for Conservation Research. Biodiversity Series 19. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. pdf

Measey, J., Tarrant, J., Rebelo, A.D., Turner, A.A., Du Preez, L.H., Mokhatla, M.M., Conradie, W. (2019) Has strategic planning made a difference to amphibianconservation research in South Africa? African Biodiversity & Conservation - Bothalia   49(1), a2428. https://doi.org/10.4102/abc.v49i1.2428 pdf

Helping the EU with an identification guide

Today the EU published an identification guide to Xenopus laevis in the European Union. I was asked to help create the text for this guide and to provide consistent differences for identification of Xenopus laevis in comparison with other anurans that occur there. An artist was asked to provide the images. 

This was a challenging task. Although many people have previously described these frogs, imagining oneself either in the field or in a customs building, coming across these frogs for the first time, I had to ask: what are the easiest and most simple means to identification? I think that the results are good and comprehensive. 

But don't take my word for it, download the identification guide (here) and judge for yourself. 

American Bullfrogs, Lithobates catesbeiana for sale in supermarkets

I have long been fascinated by the behaviour of American bullfrogs, Lithobates catesbeiana, sold in supermarkets in China. Anyone familiar with these species in their native North America will know that they are easily spooked and quickly disappear at the first sign of movement by jumping into nearby water. Individuals in invasive populations are no different and this causes a lot of issues for those who attempt to control their numbers, as I found out when I was hunting them in San Diego (see here).

Even invasive populations in China act just the same and are very flighty. But the animals that you see in the supermarket are completely sedate, not jumping at all. Usually, these animals are sold in plastic string bags, and they seem to sit very quietly. Nothing like what I’d imagine if I put wild-caught animals into a bag.

But in a supermarket in Kunming, I came across bullfrogs in a wide-open container with a very low wall that all of them were capable of jumping out of. They were not restricted in any way, yet they just sat and I did not see any individuals moving.

What other behaviours have changed for these farmed animals? Are there many other traits of domestication? Are these same domestication traits shared by the turtles in the adjacent tank?

There are some great questions to investigate with these frogs, especially as there are many local invasive populations to sample nearby.

Contributing to the IPBES Invasive Alien Species Assessment

Global agreements and initiatives on biological invasions are extremely important for setting goals and standards to international communities. Although many people are frustrated by the slow pace of change, they do represent solid advancements to global thinking and actions on invasive species and other aspects of our society. As such, I feel that these achievements should be celebrated. 

The publication toady of Bacher et al. (2023) is one such advancement in our global thinking towards reducing the impacts of invasive species globally. I am proud to be listed as a contributing author on this report. 

Bacher, S., Galil, B. S., Nuñez, M. A., Ansong, M., Cassey, P., Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Fayvush, G., Hiremath, A. J., Ikegami, M., Martinou, A. F., McDermott, S. M., Preda, C., Vilà, M., Weyl, O. L. F., Fernandez, R. D., and Ryan-Colton, E. (2023). Chapter 4: Impacts of invasive alien species on nature, nature's contributions to people, and good quality of life. In: Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Roy, H. E., Pauchard, A., Stoett, P., and Renard Truong, T. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430731 

A talk for the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University

As I was already in Australia and had to fly back via Sydney, I decided that I’d take a stopover on the way back and visit colleagues at the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University. There are a number of notable researchers there including Martin Whiting (previously of Wits University in South Africa), Georgia Ward-Fear (with whom I had written a book chapter but never met) and Rick Shine (he of the snake and cane toad fame).

There is another important connection. Martin was the former PhD supervisor of James Baxter-Gilbert, who went on to become my post-doc in Stellenbosch University. http://john.measey.com/People/Measey-Lab-Alumni

I was very fortunate to be hosted by Martin at his home and to get to know his family and their adventures. Martin very kindly took me frogging on a wild and windy night and I got to see a few of the region’s amphibians (Adelaide was way too dry).

As well as having a great time catching up with new and old friends at Macquarie, I was able to give a talk for the School:

Measey, J. (2024) What can biological invasions teach us about rapid evolutionary change? 20 February 2024 School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University