amphibian declines are not uniquely high amongst the vertebrates trend determination and the british perspective两栖动物下降的高不是唯一在脊椎动物趋势决心和英国的视角.pdfVIP

Diversity 2009, 1, 67-88; doi:10.3390/d1010067 OPEN ACCESS diversity ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/diversity Review Amphibian Declines Are Not Uniquely High amongst the Vertebrates: Trend Determination and the British Perspective Trevor J.C. Beebee 1,2,*, John W. Wilkinson 2 and John Buckley 2 1 School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK 2 Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, 655a Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth, Dorset BH1 4AP, UK; E-Mails: johnw.wilkinson@arc - (J.W.W.); john.buckley@arc - (J.B.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: t.j.c.beebee@sussex.ac.uk; Tel.: +44 (0)1273 606755; Fax: +44 (0)1273 678433. Received: 12 August 2009 / Accepted: 21 September 2009 / Published: 24 September 2009 Abstract: Although amphibians have experienced major global declines and an increasing extinction rate, recent results indicate that they are not as uniquely disadvantaged as previously supposed. Acquisition of robust data is evidently crucial to the determination of both absolute and relative rates of biodiversity declines, and thus in prioritising conservation actions. In Britain there is arguably a longer history of recording, and attempting to conserve, a wide range of species groups than anywhere else in the world. This stems from the early activities of Victorian naturalists in the nineteenth century, the establishment of natural history societies and, since the mid-twentieth century, a range of national recording scheme