Record-breaking biodiversity

The researchers listed the 287 species of reptiles and amphibians in the most recent issue of the journal Biota Neotropica. The previous record for the most diverse protected area for reptiles and amphibians was in Yasuní National Park in Ecuador, which hosts 150 amphibian and 121 reptile species, according to a 2010 study.

”There is no place like Manu where we can preserve such an exceptionally large amount of biodiversity, as well as the evolutionary processes that contribute to maintain and promote biodiversity”, said Catenazzi, a former postdoctoral researcher in UC Berkeley’s Department of Integrative Biology. “It is our responsibility to make sure this biological legacy is passed on to the next generations.”

To assemble the list, the team surveyed multiple elevations and examined hundreds of museum specimens collected at dozens of locations in Manu National Park and its buffer zone. Analysis of DNA sequences and frog calls allowed the team to identify additional species.

World Heritage Site

While the high species diversity can be partially attributed to the large area and steep topographic variation within Manu National Park, the finding is noteworthy, von May said.



He and his colleagues estimate that the park represents only 0.01 percent of the planet’s land area, but houses 2.2 percent of all amphibians and 1.5 percent of all reptiles known worldwide.

Since its creation 41 years ago, Manu National Park has become recognized as globally irreplaceable: it was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Preserve in 1977 and a World Heritage Site in 1987. Herpetologists – experts in reptiles and amphibians – first surveyed the region in the 1970s, primarily along the road that connects the city of Cuzco to villages in the cloud forests of the Kosñipata Valley. Starting in the ’80s, research was broadened to include remote lowland rainforest locations, such as Cocha Cashu Biological Station, inside the park. Subsequent expeditions have continued to reveal new species of amphibians and reptiles, especially in the cloud forest and high-Andean grasslands, which are rich in endemic species, Catenazzi said. One of the most recent discoveries was the glass frog Centrolene sabini, the world’s 7,000th known amphibian species.

The research team predicts that additional species will be described in the upcoming years as a result of increased use of DNA analysis, study of frog calls and other techniques.

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Amazon Conservation Association, the Rufford Small Grants Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Media release: Robert Sanders/UC Berkeley

Image: Alessandro Catenazzi/Southern Illinois University, Carbondale