State of knowledge and conservation of amphibians of Chile: a synthesis of the last 10 years of research

Abstract

Ten years have elapsed since the last general synthesis of the state of knowledge of amphibians of Chile was published. During this period there have been numerous contributions to the knowledge of these organisms and implemented actions aimed at their conservation. The aim of this paper is to describe the progress in different scientific areas and in the field of conservation of amphibians of Chile during the last ten years to get an updated vision of their state of knowledge and conservation and identify some areas that require greater research effort. The update was based on 155 works published between 2006 and 2015, including scientific articles ISI and no ISI, books, book chapters and field guides. These publications were classified by year and by scientific area to examine the temporal trend in the number of publications and identify in which areas has concentrated the scientific work. The areas where most research was conducted during the last decade were conservation, geographical distribution and biogeography, ethology, taxonomy, and genetics and phylogeography. Among these, conservation has become a discipline of scientific interest and has benefited from concrete actions such as ex situ and in situ breeding programs, the proposal of a National Plan of Amphibian Conservation and the assessment of conservation status made through the "Reglamento de Clasificación de Especies". Finally, some issues that would require more attention from researchers in the areas of taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, biology and conservation are suggested.