Amphibians and Reptiles
J. Alan PoundsI like the look of frogs, and their outlook, and especially the way
they get together in wet places on warm nights and sing about sex.
The music frogs make ... is full of optimism and inner meaning.
—Archie F. Carr
The Windward Road (1955)Anyone who stood on the bridge over the Rio Guacimal
at Monteverde on a wet-season night in the early 1980s
would understand Archie Carr's sentiments. Nearly
300 male Fleischmann's Glass Frogs (Hyalinoba-
trachium fleischmanni) defended territories along a
120-m section of the stream, and their loud, incessant
"peeps" filled the air (Hayes 1991; Fig. 5.1). In the late
1980s, however, this chorus all but fell silent as the
number of glass frogs plummeted. The population has
not recovered. In 1998, only a single male could be
heard from the bridge.
The dramatic reduction in glass frogs was part of
a larger decline of Monteverde's amphibians. A sud-
den crash of populations in 1987 affected species
throughout the area and led to the disappearance of
many (Pounds 1990, 1991a, 1997, Crump et al. 1992,
Pounds and Crump 1994, Pounds and Fogden 1996,
Pounds et al. 1997). The disappearance that has
drawn the most attention, however, is that of the
Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes). This species, known
only from elfin cloud forest high on the ridgetops at
Monteverde, is famous for its striking appearance and
the colorful spectacle of its breeding congregations
(Savage 1966, Jacobson 1983, Fogden and Fogden
1984, Jacobson and Vandenberg 1991; see Savage,
"Discovery of the Golden Toad," pp. 171-172; Fig.
5.2). Because the Golden Toad had been locally abun-
dant in seemingly undisturbed habitats for at least 17
consecutive years, its sudden disappearance caused
great alarm and dismay (Pounds et al. 1997).
Interest in this case has intensified with the sug-
gestion that it is part of a global pattern (Barinaga
1990, Blaustein and Wake 1990, 1995, Phillips 1990,
1994, Wyman 1990, Wake 1991, Wake and Morowitz
1991, Sarkar 1996; see Pounds, "Monteverde Sala-
manders," pp. 172-173). Many similar declines and
disappearances have been reported for highland areas
of other continents (Corn and Fogleman 1984, Heyer
et al. 1988, Osborne 1989, Weygoldt 1989, Czechura
and Ingram 1990, La Marca and Reinthaler 1991, Carey
1993, Fellers and Drost 1993, Kagarise Sherman and
Morton 1993, Drost and Fellers 1996, Laurance et al.5