Apennine yellow-bellied toad (Bombina pachypus)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 172516417

Promoting long-term persistence of the endangered Apennine yellow-bellied toad in Northern Italy by dynamic habitat creation and meta-population management

We aim to establish a sustainable management protocol for long-term persistence of B. pachypus in Liguria, with four new and increasing populations by 2020. Specific objectives are: 1. At regular intervals (1-2 sites/year; areas already identified), create or replace ephemeral natural habitat favoured by the species, enlarging roadside ditches, areas trampled by cattle, temporary ponds, etc. This habitat creation will be highly cost-effective (up to one work day per site per year). 2. Once succession makes these sites unsuitable (infilling, vegetation regrowth, increase in predators), recreate similar sites nearby, to facilitate natural colonisation by B. pachypus. 3. Maintain and upscale the current headstarting program, rearing eggs in captivity to obtain individuals for releases. 4. Release the animals thus produced (after pre-release disease screening) to assist the initial colonisation of newly created habitat and to reinforce extant populations, managing harvest and release in a unique multi-population system. 5. Maintain monitoring of extant populations, including disease surveillance. 6. Carry out additional surveys at recently discovered populations, to maintain updated knowledge of the species status and potentially modifying the species IUCN RL status when needed. 7. Continue our successful student training grant awards and maintain communication with the public and local communities.

Project document

• Project Document




Project 172516417 location - Italy, Europe