Measuring the Meltdown: Drivers of Global Amphibian Extinction and Decline
Open accessAbstract
Habitat loss, climate change, over-exploitation, disease and other factors have been hypothesised in the global decline of amphibian biodiversity. However, the relative importance of and synergies among different drivers are still poorly understood. We present the largest global analysis of roughly 45% of known amphibians (2,583 species) to quantify the influences of life history, climate, human density and habitat loss on declines and extinction risk. Multi-model Bayesian inference reveals that large amphibian species with small geographic range and pronounced seasonality in temperature and precipitation are most likely to be Red-Listed by IUCN. Elevated habitat loss and human densities are also correlated with high threat risk. Range size, habitat loss and more extreme seasonality in precipitation contributed to decline risk in the 2,454 species that declined between 1980 and 2004, compared to species that were stable (n = 1,545) or had increased (n = 28). These empirical results show that amphibian species with restricted ranges should be urgently targeted for conservation.
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Natural ponds, artificial reservoirs, and agricultural ponds each have distinct hydrological characteristics and water quality profiles, which can influence the presence and abundance of amphibian species.
“Natural ponds, artificial reservoirs, and agricultural ponds each have distinct hydrological characteristics and water quality profiles, which can influence the presence and abundance of amphibian species (Sekhon et al., 2023; Sodhi et al., 2008).”
From Comparative analysis of amphibian community dynamics in relation to water quality in pond types across two Punjab districts, India (2025) · cites this paper as Sodhi et al., 2008
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- Authors
- Sodhi, N. S., Bickford, D., Diesmos, A. C., Lee, T. M., Koh, L. P., Brook, B. W., Sekercioglu, C. H., & Bradshaw, C. J. A.
- Affiliations
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- National Museum of the Philippines (PH)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Stanford University (US)
- Charles Darwin University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Sodhi, Navjot S.
- Bickford, David
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2008-02-20
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e1636
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2238793
- OpenAlex
- W2075832041
- Cited by
- 492
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 36
- FWCI
- 20.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CDU eSpace Institutional Repository (Charles Darwin University) (submittedVersion)
- eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- National University of Singapore (submittedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- National University of Singapore (R-154-000-270-112)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Keywords
- amphibian decline, drivers of biodiversity loss, habitat loss, climate change, overexploitation, amphibian disease, human population density, range size, seasonal variation, precipitation seasonality, seasonal temperature variation, life history, IUCN Red List, conservation prioritization
- MeSH terms
- Amphibians, Animals, Bayes Theorem, Humans, Population Density, Population Dynamics, Ecosystem, Extinction, Biological
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