During the course of the year, we will have the pleasure of bringing you news about amphibian conservation efforts directly from the field. In some cases these will be reports filed by Houston Zoo staff who are working with native or exotic species, but we also expect to receive regular updates from our colleagues working in other states and countries – all of which we are happy to share with visitors to this website.
The eastern United States, specifically the Appalachians, has an extraordinary diversity of salamanders. Paul Crump, from Houston Zoo’s Department of Conservation and Science, joined colleagues from another zoo for a field trip to this region. The trip took them through 5 states and with about 60 species of reptiles and amphibians seen. Over 40 of these were salamanders.
At the end of April 2008, the final release of the 2007 Houston Toad head start program was done. 70 adult Houston toads were released at two sites in Bastrop County, Texas. This release coincided with the natural breeding season for Houston toads in the wild. Early results were extremely encouraging with multiple males calling within an hour of their release. Within a few days several females had laid eggs, but unfortunately these eggs failed to develop. Texas Parks and Wildlife film makers were present at the release to document this event and to continue working on a episode of their television show.
Peter Riger, the Houston Zoo's Assistant Director of Conservation, traveled to Sabah Borneo in March 2008 and accompanied Malaysian amphibian biologists in an area amphibian field survey. Monitoring methods utilized for amphibians included surveys, data collection, morphological data and records. On each of three nights, the team went out for 2 hours to three different sites: a small oil palm plantation, forest edge behind the B&B where they were lodging. Over these 6 hours they located 51 individuals from 18 species in 9 genera. Each individual was bagged and brought back to the research station and then weighed, measured and photographed before being released back to the original site.
Photo courtesy of KOCP
Edgardo Griffith, Director of EVACC, and Paul Crump, Reptile and Amphibian Keeper at the Houston, were joined by Eric Baitchman, from Zoo New England, Dustin Smith, from Busch Gardens, and Tim Herman and Maria Tumeo from Toledo Zoological Society, for a six day field excursion to the Cerro Brewster region of central-eastern Panama. The trip yielded a diverse quantity of reptiles and amphibians, a total of about 60 species were found. Priority taxa collected for ex situ conservation tactics included the Horned Marsupial Frog (Gastrotheca marsupiata), the Casque-headed 
Treefrog (Hemiphractus fasciatus), the Panama Robber Frog (Eleutherodactylus museosus), the Tabasara Robber Frog (Craugastor tabasarae), and the Sapo Limosa (Atelopus limosus). The sad reality is that although healthy populations of amphibians now thrive in this untouched pristine area in roughly 2 to 4 years the deadly chytrid fungus will most likey sweep through Cerro Brewster wiping out every amphibian in its path. ~Photos courtesy of Paul Crump
Sirens (Siren intermedia texana) were the most abundant amphibian detected, about half were caught in the minnow traps and half were caught with the seine. A Rio Grande Leopard frog (Rana berlandieri) was caught in a minnow trap. Newts were found, all with the seine.
The team also collected environmental data with the goal of establishing a model with which to determine of newts might be present at a new site. Driving from the refuge at the end of the day, a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) was seen crossing the road.
Houston Zoo staff participates in range wide Houston Toad (Bufo houstonensis) surveys. The purpose of these surveys is two-fold. The first is to monitor the population status of the Houston Toad by counting individuals and calls at specific sites. The second purpose is to detect new localities for Houston Toads in Texas. These surveys are organized and routes are developed by biologists at Texas State University. In addition to the Houston Zoo, Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas A&M University also run Toad surveys. 
During appropriate environmental conditions, staff head out to predetermined listening posts along an audio transect at night. Each transect has 15 listening posts and staff listen at each post for five minutes to determine what amphibian species are calling that evening. Any eggs masses, tadpoles and other adult amphibians are also recorded. 
