California Amphibian and Reptile Species of Special Concern now available online
California Amphibian and Reptile Species of Special Concern (Thomson, Wright, and Shaffer 2016), a collaborative project of California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the University of California, Davis, is now available for PDF download. The publication provides a synthesis of the conservation risk faced by California’s amphibians and reptiles that qualify as Species of Special Concern. Using a full list of the native amphibian and reptile taxa known to occur in the state and eight metrics that capture key elements of declining and at-risk species, 73 nominee taxa were scored based on an extensive literature review and evaluation by a Technical Advisory Committee. Peer-reviewed species accounts for each of the resulting 45 Species of Special Concern, now available in PDF format, provide available information on their basic biology, known or hypothesized reasons for decline, proposed management, and future research needs. The result is a clear, transparent publication that explicitly states why decisions were made, supports them with a summary of the best available science, and contributes in a meaningful way to the conservation goals of our State Wildlife Action Plan.