Experimental repatriation of boreal toad (Bufo boreas) eggs, metamorphs, and adults in Rocky Mountain National Park

Product Type: Journal Article

Year: 2001

Author(s): Muths, E., T.L. Johnson, and P.S. Corn

Suggested Citation:
Muths, E., T.L. Johnson, and P.S. Corn. 2001. Experimental repatriation of boreal toad (Bufo boreas) eggs, metamorphs, and adults in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Southwestern Naturalist 46(1): 106-113.

Abstract

The boreal toad (Bufo boreas) is an endangered species in Colorado and is considered a candidate species for federal listing by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Boreal toads are absent from many areas of suitable habitat in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado presumably due to a combination of causes. We moved boreal toads from existing populations and from captive rearing facilities to habitat which was historically, but is not currently, occupied by toads to experimentally examine methods of repatriation for this species. Repatriation is defined as the release of individuals into areas currently of historically occupied by that species (Dodd and Seigel, 1991). This effort was in response to one of the criteria for delisting the boreal toad in Colorado stated in the conservation plan and agreement for the management and recovery of the Southern Rocky Mountain population of the boreal toad (Loeffler, 1998:16); “…there must be at least 2 viable breeding populations of boreal toads in each of at least 9 of 11 mountain ranges of its historic distribution.” Without moving eggs from established wild populations, or from captivity to historical localities, it is doubtful whether the recovery team will attain this ambitions goal.