Pet amphibian trade booming

CAPTIVITY: 47 SPECIES UNDER THREAT WORLDWIDE

Loss of natural pest controllers can lead to imbalance in ecosystems.

The Global Amphibian Assessment pegs 47 amphibian species to be predominantly threatened by unsustainable harvesting for the international pet trade.

And the risks don’t end there. People release pets into the wild, resulting in biological invasions. Often, it may introduce a species to regions beyond their natural range. These invasive populations can harm native species and lead to the spread of diseases to new areas.

For example, the pet trade is linked to the spread of an infectious fungal disease of salamanders in Europe, leading to largescale salamander mortality.

These threats are especially true for amphibians (frogs, newts and caecilians). Amphibians are undergoing severe population declines all over the world due to habitat destruction, climate change, disease spread, and invasive species.

Losing amphibians, pest controllers par excellence, not only imperils agricultural security but can lead to imbalances in ecosystem processes.

Internet-based commerce is making it easier for the pet trade to include growing numbers and new species of amphibians. The trade is now the major pathway through which invasions of amphibians take place.

At least 104 amphibian species are invasive around the world and more species are likely to be introduced in the future.

In our new study, we identified which species are being traded and why, and predicted which species are likely to be targeted in future. We uncovered nearly 450 species of amphibians in the pet trade, moved around the world in large numbers.

The US alone imported 3.6 million pet amphibians in the past five years. The magnitude of this trade indicates that more species are likely to be released and become invasive in non-native regions and facilitate disease spread.

We searched the scientific literature and import databases for traded amphibians around the globe.

Our effort resulted in a long list of 443 traded species. We found a strong bias for certain types of amphibians; six amphibian families contributed disproportionately high numbers of traded species. The colourful poison dart frog family is, unsurprisingly, a star attraction. More surprising as popular pets are the families of tongue-less frogs and reed frogs.

Next, we found that the traded species tend to be bigger. It is likely that extremely small body sizes are avoided because it’s harder for the owner to see or handle the pet often.

These results help explain which species end up in the trade.

Although our investigation provides a good view of the trade, it has some blind spots. Trade in Asia remains understudied. We also couldn’t incorporate all the potential factors that may predict popular pets, such as colour and calls.

Pet ownership comes with responsibilities, not just for the well-being of the pets, but for the unwanted effects their trade could have. With great pets come great responsibilities.

Mohanty is from Stellenbosch University’s department of botany and zoology

Republished from TheConversation.com

Invasive populations can harm native species