The Global Decline of Reptiles, Déjà Vu Amphibians

Abstract

As a group [reptiles] are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad,’ but iare interesting and unusual, although of minor importance. If they should all disappear, it would not make much difference one way or the other” (Zim and Smith 1953, p. 9). Fortunately, this opinion from the Golden Guide Series does not persist today; most people have come to recognize the value of both reptiles and amphibians as an integral part of natural ecosystems and as heralds of environmental quality (Gibbons and Stangel 1999). In recent years, as overall environmental awareness among the public has increased, concerns have come to include interest in the ecological state of reptile and amphibian species themselves and of their habitats. Increased awareness may stem from better education about threats to biodiversity in general, and to reptiles and amphibians in particular, and possibly even from an innate attraction to these taxa (Kellert and Wilson 1993).