ABSTRACT
The climate crisis adds multiple threats to the already long list of stressors on global biodiversity. The result is a paucity of resources and a growing list of species in need of conservation programs to secure their future. Conservation actions that deal with persistent and pervasive threats must focus on trying to understand the biology of the organism, its ecology and response to such threats without being paralysed by inaction due to gaps in knowledge. Following the devastating 2019/20 mega-fires across the east coast of Australia, a major effort to combine complementary conservation approaches to monitor and recover populations of threatened amphibians was mobilised. For one species, the cryptic Littlejohn's tree frog (Litoria littlejohni), this integrated conservation framework combined traditional ecological approaches including population monitoring, habitat creation, captive breeding and translocation, with established and emerging biotechnologies such as genetic analysis, biobanking, assisted reproduction and biomarkers of individual health. Littlejohn's tree frog was recently uplisted to Endangered, due to increased threat of extinction resulting from the fires, whilst already suffering from disease and reduced genetic diversity. Our integrated conservation approach attempts to accelerate recovery of a species threatened with multiple landscape persistent stressors that are not mitigated by singular conservation actions. Presented here as a case study, we argue this integrated approach used for Littlejohn's tree frog could be adopted for other species facing perilous population declines.
