Ongoing harlequin toad declines suggest the amphibian extinction crisis is still an emergency

Despite ongoing conservation efforts, amphibian extinction remains a critical issue. This study examines the status of Neotropical harlequin toads (*Atelopus*), a highly threatened group, to assess the effectiveness of current conservation strategies. Analysis of population data from 2004 to 2022 reveals no improvement in species population status, indicating that current mitigation efforts have been insufficient. Threats like habitat loss, pathogen spread (*Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis*), and climate change persist. The authors emphasize the need for enhanced mitigation strategies, including habitat protection, disease management, and captive breeding programs, concluding that the amphibian extinction crisis remains an emergency.

Stefan Lötters, Amadeus Plewnia, Alessandra Catanezzì, Kelsey Neam, Andrés R Acosta-Galvis, Yesenia Alarcon Vela, Joshua P Allen, Óscar J Alfaro Segundo, Ana de Lourdes Amendo Cabezas, Gilbert Alvardo Barboza, Kleiton R Alves-Silva, Anganyan-Ciriollo, Ernesto Arbeláez Ortíz, Jackielyn O Pojano, Alejandro Aretaga, Óscar Ballistas, Diego Barreira Moscoso, José D Barros-Castañeda, Abel Batistão, Manuel H Bernal, Esteban Betancourt, Yousser Oliviera da Cunha Bitar, Philipp Böning, Laura Bravo-Valencia, José F Cáceres Aranda, Diego Calderon, Laura Patricia Ceballos, Germán Chavidez, Luis AlbertoClaudia, Phil Gallardo, Sergio Á Camilo, Ignacio D La Riva, William Rodríguez, Luis E Gómez Agudelo, Raphaël Fenassii, Sylvain Flechas, Thibaut Roch, Antoine Fouquet, Carmen Z García Méndez, Juan Elías García-Pérez, Diego A Gómez-Hoyos, Adán M Comigoes, Jorge Guerrel, Brian Grawitcke, J M Guayasamín, Edgardo Griffith, Vía Helen Rairer-Alva, Roberto Ibáñez, Carlos Iván Idrovo, Andrés Jiménez Monge, Rafael R Jorge, Aisha Jungh, Blake Klocke, Margarita Lampp, Edgar Lehr, Carrie H R Lewis, Erik D Lindquist, Brian N López-Torrealba, Glib Mzabepo, Guido F Medina-Rangel, Andrés Merino Viteri, Kevin Múlder, Mauricio Pacheco-Suarez, Andy Pereira-Muñoz, José Luis Pérez González, Karina Alejandra Pinto Rojas, Alfonso Gustavo Pisso Florez, Marc Nones, Vicky Poole, Amanda B Zavedo Riera, Áron J Quiroz, Michelle Quiroz-Espinazo, Alejandro Ramírez Guerrero, Juan P Ramírez, Steffen Reikize, Hugo Reizle, Mauricio Rivera-Correa, Bernardo Rico-Ras, Andrés Rocha-Ussé, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues, Sintana Rojas Montaño, Daniela C Röhler, Luis Pedro Sandoval, Selina Seifaris, Alexander Shepack, Fausto R Siavichay Pesanzét, Anton Sorokin, Andrea Terán-Valdez, Grecia Torres-Cascani, Pablo C Tovar-Silvo, Lina M Valencia, David A Velásquez-Trujillo, Michael Veith, Pablo J Venegas, Jefferson Villalba-Fuentes, Rudolf von May, Juan R Webster Bernal, Enrique La Marca