Providing tools for research and the building of arks: the role of husbandry in disease research and recovery processes

Gerry Marantelli

Amphibian Research Centre, P.O. Box 424, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia 3056.
Email: rc@frogs.org.au

The need to utilise all available resources in the effort to stem amphibian declines has seen a certain amount of attention focused on husbandry and the use of captivity as a tool in the conservation process. The uses of husbandry technology in conservation extend well beyond its traditional role of breeding of threatened species for release. Captive processes can not only increase numbers of frogs by release, but ensure wild harvesting for other uses is minimised. Good husbandry aids other research conducted in captivity by minimising the interference that behaviors exhibited by stressed frogs can cause to data. The ease of monitoring captive frogs has often led to observations not readily accessed in the field. The proximity of captive collections can stimulate public support by providing community access to otherwise invisible conservation research and actions.

In the case of infectious diseases, husbandry technologies can provide a range of services: from salvaging and storing genetic stock for later release to providing stock and facilities for experimental hypothesis testing that cannot for various reasons be conducted in the field. Captive collections have also provided data that aided in the development of the pathogen driven decline theory. Without such data the road to our current state of knowledge would surely have followed a longer and more circuitous route. The role of husbandry may even take on a new complexion in selective breeding for resistance to disease or the production of immunised stock to rehabilitate wild populations. In our modern world of global trade, the rise of emerging diseases as a conservation issue will only stand to increase the importance of captive collections and husbandry technologies.