A note on amphibian decline in a central Amazonian lowland forest

The massive reductions in amphibian populations taking place across the globe are unprecedented in modern times. Within the Neotropics, the enigmatic decline of amphibians has been considered predominantly a montane phenomenon; however, recent evidence suggests amphibian and reptile populations in lowland forests in Central America are waning as well. Unfortunately, very little baseline data are available for conducting large scale time series studies in order to further investigate and confirm declines in the lowland forests of tropical America. Here we compare leaf litter herpetofauna abundance at sites in the Central Amazon, sampled first in 1984–1985 and again in 2007. We find no evidence for a decline in abundance or biomass of amphibians over a period of 22 years at this site. This conclusion differs markedly from the decline of 75% in amphibian populations over 35 years at a lowland site in Costa Rica. To explore potential declines in lowland Neotropical amphibian populations in detail, we suggest that existing baseline data be comprehensively compiled and analyzed for previously sampled sites and that these sites be re-sampled using comparable methodologies.