Madidi National Park, Bolivia, August 5, 2024 – A recent study in Madidi National Park showed that the diversity of amphibians found in this protected area exceeds the diversity reported for other megadiverse protected areas in the tropical Andes, such as Manu in Peru or Yasuní in Ecuador. This finding further suggests, according to a new paper published in Herpetology Notes, that Madidi may be the most diverse national protected area in the world.

The study further includes the discovery of possibly 10 new amphibian species including: an Adenomera frog, seven Microkayla frogs, a Noblella frog, and an Oreobates or robber frog. Researchers are taking the steps now to ensure if these are newly discovered.

The paper, which shows that Madidi National Park registers a high diversity of amphibian species, documented the results of fieldwork which noted that 64 species were recorded, increasing the total number of confirmed records for the park to 127 species. 

The study gathered a large amount of little-known information in Madidi National Park and the Integrated Natural Management Area in Bolivia, including at 15 study sites over three years (2015 to 2017). Situated in northwestern Bolivia in the La Paz Department, Madidi spans 1.89 million hectares, bridging the Tropical Andes with the Amazon basin across a stunning altitudinal range between 184 and 6044 meters above sea level. As such, Madidi was already known to be one of the most diverse protected areas in South America.

The surveys were made in the seven ecoregions included in the park: Amazonian Forest, Sub-Andean Amazonian forest, Pre-Andean Amazonian Forests, Cerrado Paceño, Yungas, Inter-Andean Dry Forests, and High Andean Vegetation. 

Mauricio Ocampo, from the Institute of Ecology in La Paz and principal author of the study, explains that these ecoregions are quite different from each other and there is a high species turnover, as well as many unique species in each ecoregion, underlining the need for further studies on this threatened group of vertebrates.

The methodology included an exhaustive bibliographic and photographic search of amphibian records within the protected area's boundaries and nearby surroundings, as well as extensive fieldwork to analyze amphibian diversity. Apart from habitat loss, amphibians as small relatively sedentary vertebrates are also particularly vulnerable to climate change, as well as fungal pathogens and illegal wildlife trade, so documenting their diversity and developing specific conservation actions is especially important now.

New records for the park include Cochranella nola, Boana cinerascens, Dendropsophus salli, Adenomera sp., Noblella sp., and Microkayla spp., among others. New records for Bolivia include Boana appendiculata, Pristimantis diadematus, and Pristimantis lacrimosus.

Identidad Madidi, a communication and biodiversity expedition, is considered the most comprehensive effort to summarize the biodiversity of Madidi to date. However, diversity studies in these heterogeneous environments require long-term efforts, the study concludes. 

Dr. Robert Wallace, Senior Conservation Scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bolivia, leader of the Identidad Madidi initiative, and co-author of the study, emphasized, "Madidi is incredibly special with irreplaceable global value. This study, as well as the fish study that is already out and others that are underway, proves that Madidi is one of the most biodiverse protected areas in the world, perhaps even the park with the most species of flora and fauna. It is everyone's duty to protect it."

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