A poison frog father with tadpoles on his back.
Banking Genome Biomaterials of Terrestrial Vertebrates: Adding Amphibians to the Ark
The Frozen Zoo® at CRES is a precious and irreplaceable resource. It represents one of the most important ex situ conservation efforts undertaken in the last 25 years. Presently, over 95 percent of its 7,600 accessions consist of mammalian taxa, although the most rapidly expanding components of the Frozen Zoo, in terms of new taxa, consist of avian and reptilian species. Its continuing development can best serve present and future conservation needs by expanding the number of species it incorporates and by broadening its taxonomic base to include amphibian species.
Studies using the biomaterials resources of the Frozen Zoo provide important and exciting contributions to conservation science and its applications. Many studies of direct benefit to the Association of Zoos and Aquarium (AZA) Species Survival Plans and Taxon Advisory Groups for avian and mammalian species have been facilitated by the collections in the Frozen Zoo representing these classes of vertebrates. As species decline or disappear, and the urgency of establishing captive assurance populations becomes widely recognized, it is anticipated that the need for cell culture resources in support of conservation efforts will become an even more urgent priority, particularly for amphibians.
Captive management programs for birds, mammals, and reptiles routinely or invariably require genetic studies that necessitate access to samples, particularly to founders or early generations of captive stock. The same will hold true for amphibians, as has been demonstrated with the Wyoming toad recovery program. The new cell culture and liquid nitrogen freezers that are part of the facilities at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Conservation Research can be utilized to begin establishing and freezing amphibian cell cultures. Possibly one-third of all amphibian taxa were be identified as appropriate candidates for bioresource banking efforts, following international consensus at the Amphibian Conservation Summit held September 2005 in Washington, D.C.
Pioneering efforts for establishing amphibian cell lines and the production of protocols for successful cell culture and freezing efforts poses a challenge upon which the scientists working with the Frozen Zoo are eager to embark. The Frozen Zoo effort is an ongoing activity and a core function of CRES.
More
News archives:
