Invasive snakes represent a serious threat to island biodiversity, being responsible for far-reaching impacts that are noticeably understudied, particularly regarding native reptiles. We analysed the impact of the invasive California kingsnake, Lampropeltis californiae—recently introduced in the Canary Islands—on the abundance of all endemic herpetofauna of the island of Gran Canaria.  Leer más.

Researchers in Taiwan learned of a possible cane toad invasion at a farm in a small town in Taiwan’s central mountain range, after a local resident shared photos of a cane toad online. After seeing the photo, researchers from the Taiwan Amphibian Conservation Society immediately came to the farm to investigate. Leer más. 

Ons y Cíes preservan dos poblaciones de salamandras cuyos ancestros se quedaron aislados del continente con la formación de las islas hace varios miles de años. Los ejemplares actuales han desarrollado un cambio importante en su método reproductivo que les ha permitido sobrevivir sin depender de ríos, lagos ni lluvias. Mientras sus primos del continente ponen larvas en el agua para asegurar su descendencia, las salamandras insulares paren ejemplares juveniles y en tierra. Leer más.

Here we explored the matching between phenology and the thermal sensitivity of standard (SMR) and routine metabolic rates (RMR), metabolic scope (i.e. the difference between RMR and SMR), survival and growth-development trajectories in larvae of a prolonged breeder amphibian Alytes almogavarii acclimated to 10 and 20°C, belonging to three cohorts: autumn pre-overwintering, autumn overwintering and spring tadpoles. At 20°C, survival of autumn pre-overwintering larvae was lower than for the rest. Although all cohorts showed acclimation potential, patterns for SMR and RMR differed, leading to differences in metabolic scope. Leer más.

—Fifteen years have elapsed since the arrival of the invasive snake Hemorrhois hippocrepis to the island of Ibiza (Balearic Islands, Spain). In that time, the only endemic vertebrate, the Ibiza Wall Lizard (Podarcis pityusensis), has disappeared across half of the island, a subspecies restricted to an offshore islet has
vanished, and its extinction in its native range is likely to happen in the next several years if managers do not implement conservation measures with alacrity and decisiveness. In light of these fndings, our re-assessment of the IUCN extinction risk category for this lizard shows that its risk status has increased by two levels since its last assessment in 2008, from Near Threatened to Endangered. Leer más.

Fotografia: Albert Masats. Wikipedia.